About 25 years ago as a kid I had looked up future total eclipses and had marked the 2017 eclipse as the one I would see. I’d be old enough to travel when I please, it would be summer and it would be at a location that’s easy to go to (I visit the US […]
2017 Total Solar Eclipse @ Madisonville, TN
August 31, 2017 // by ecuador
Daytime polar alignment (for the 2017 Solar Eclipse of course!)
August 14, 2017 // by ecuador
If you are going to try and capture the solar eclipse with an equatorial mount, you are probably concerned about how you are going to do the polar alignment (unless you are lucky enough to be able to set up the previous night). Sky & Telescope seems to have popularized a method which uses a […]
Baader Astrosolar Photo film ND 3.8
September 23, 2016 // by ecuador
In a previous Solar filter test I explored how various filters help with getting some better white-light Solar surface feature photos, and I had noted that while I was using the Baader Astrosolar Safety ND=5.0 film, some narrowband filters would benefit from the photo grade Astrosolar ND=3.8 film, as with allowing as much as 1/6310 of the […]
Baader Astrosolar vs Thousand Oaks Black Polymer solar filter
September 11, 2016 // by ecuador
There are two popular kinds of inexpensive solar filters which you can buy in unmounted sheets, cut them and mount them yourself. The older kind is the black polymer type, with the most famous kind (especially in the US) being the one that Thousand Oaks makes (their glass filters are also popular), while the currently […]
2016 Mercury Transit @ Heaton Park
May 13, 2016 // by ecuador
We had an unusually sunny day at Heaton Park on May 9th, so we enjoyed the Mercury Transit along with many friends from the Heaton Park astro group and even more people who where just enjoying their day at the park. The only downside was the strong wind, which tended to cover everything with dust […]
Imaging the sun in white light and Baader Solar Continuum or other color filters
May 7, 2016 // by ecuador
One of the most inexpensive accessories you can get for your telescope is the Baader AstroSolar safety film which you can use to safely observe and photograph the sun. Baader also has the 540nm-pass “Solar Continuum” filter to improve the definition of some solar features, so I thought I’d run a little experiment to see exactly […]
2015 Solar Eclipse @ Heaton Park, Manchester
March 20, 2015 // by ecuador
Well, that’s it for Europe until 2026. We had a nice gathering with a lot of people of all ages at Heaton Park, Manchester today, however the weather was not favorable. We did lose the sun completely near the maximum (and I don’t mean the moon covered it – it was due to thick clouds) […]
The easy solar filter: Baader Astrosolar Film on aperture mask cover.
March 15, 2015 // by ecuador
One of the best and least expensive solutions for observing the sun with a telescope is to use the Baader Astrosolar Safety Film. There are many places that will sell you a pre-mounted filter for your telescope, or you can make it yourself and save money. For example, by gluing strips of cardboard around the […]