Scattered Thoughts . . .

I had previously written about having problems finding the sun with my telescope while using a finder scope called the Sol Searcher.  I resorted to removing the Sol Searcher and going back to using my homemade solar finder scope instead.  My homemade solar finder scope works very well (pictured at right with the bullseye on the back end of it) but, when I'm using more than one telescope for solar astronomy, it is best to have a finder scope for each telescope.  I was hoping this little, lightweight Sol Searcher finder scope would be the ideal solution but I was quite disappointed until the other day.   When viewing the sun, your body is situated at the rear end of the telescope where the eyepiece is located.  You would naturally want to also view the solar finder scope from this position as well and that is what I was doing.  The problem is that when you are back behind the Sol Searcher finder scope, you cannot see where the sun is on the Sol Searcher until you are dead center pos

M y newest solar filter requires a power supply.  It came with a cable and an AC adapter but, until I have built my observatory (hopefully this spring/summer), it is far easier to use a portable power supply.  Besides, the sun is behind trees all winter from where the observatory will be located so, depending on the time of day, I need to set up the telescope in a different location and I sometimes need to move the telescope as the sun moves behind more trees.  Portable power is an easier solution for this. The manufacturer offers a solar powered battery to use for this but the price seemed a bit high.  This filter is a bit of a power hog so it does need to be a relatively powerful battery.  That solar powered battery idea seemed like a great idea for powering a solar filter though.  This prompted me to look around online to see if I can find a more reasonably priced solar battery with the same specifications or better.   In the meantime, we have a portable charger that we use for char

Y esterday afternoon was a little chilly but a beautiful afternoon for solar astronomy.  The sky was a deep blue, the distant mountaintops were crisp with no haze diminishing my view, and the temperature was a balmy 20° or so.  It was a great opportunity to spend a little more time with this new solar filter. I set up everything indoors and then moved everything to our mudroom/laundry room at the back door to make it easier moving everything outdoors.  I knew I wanted to attempt to capture some photos so I also had two cameras ready as well as a few lens choices.   You can clearly see in this first photo that it was a beautiful afternoon.  I don't think I've seen skies this clear in years! I was able to set up the telescope in an area where I had cleared snow the previous night.  This area of the backyard is very near our outdoor kitchen and the back door to the house so I had easy access to any additional equipment I might need from indoors.   Although it was a relatively mode