Sun question

Just curious....I know about the whole spiel on not looking directly at the sun, burning your cornea,etc. But Are there proper filters that can be put on to reduce the brightness and somehow capture the sun ? I didnt google this question figured I'd ask here first. I was at the park earlier today and started thinking about that, I'm sure Nasa has done something like this or Astronomical observatories around the globe,but maybe photogs also ?

Any comments welcomed

yes solar photography is quite popular among sun gazer. You can buy a white light filter for a refractor telescope. This will block 99% of all the light including UV band. This will allow you do do solar photography. If you have more money, you can invest in the H-Alpha refractor. Cloudynights.com has a big solar section in their forums. I suggest you go take a look.

dont point your camera at the sun or hook it up to telescope pointed at sun etc unless prepared in advance. by that i mean ND filters or whatever your using to block light. you could easily melt the inside of the camera in seconds if pointed at the sun, especially with fast lenses. you dont even have to snap a photo, just the light absorbed by the mirror in the body will heat it up enough to cause damage.


disclaimer: i dont do sun photog at all, i just wanted to put the warning out there.

You can buy yourself some Baader Planetarium AstroSolar film and make your own white light filter to fit your camera lens or telescope..
Following is a picture I took through my 6" refractor with a white light(Solar Film) filter using a point and shoot digital camera for an afocal shot.

tkerr wrote in post #9745296
You can buy yourself some Baader Planetarium AstroSolar film and make your own white light filter to fit your camera lens or telescope..
Following is a picture I took through my 6" refractor with a white light(Solar Film) filter using a point and shoot digital camera for an afocal shot.

But, If you want to see the red molten granularity, flares and solar prominances then you will need the more expensive H-Alpha Solar filter or Solar Telescope. One of the more popular Ha solar scopes was the Coronado PST.

I am just following up on this stuff and trying to get it all together. As far as I see, you use the H-Alpha filter as a narrow bandwidth filter, to cut out interference and haze, in conjunction with the blocking foil?

Appreciate any help.

OldNick wrote in post #9748934
I am just following up on this stuff and trying to get it all together. As far as I see, you use the H-Alpha filter as a narrow bandwidth filter, to cut out interference and haze, in conjunction with the blocking foil?

Appreciate any help.

The Hydrogen-Alpha filter BLOCKS everything EXCEPT the Hydrogen-Alpha wavelength of light. They are very expensive filters and MUST go over the FRONT, that is, the OBJECTIVE END of your telescope or camera lens. This one lets you see solar prominences and the filaments of the red/orange/yellow CHROMOSPHERE (outer layer of the sun.)

Same goes for the silver foil mylar sheet that can be purchased for about $60AUD for an A4 sheet. You can cut the stuff and make a cap to go over the FRONT of your lens. This one lets you see the sun in it's natural color, white. This layer is an inner layer called the PHOTOSPHERE.

I repeat, FILTERS MUST GO OVER THE FRONT. If you let the sun's full heat into a magnifying and collecting lens, you will crack gear, melt things and if your eye happens to be there at the time, you can forget about ever seeing out of that eye again.

I wrote a bit about it when I made and off-axis filter using the sheet for my telescope.

Click this LINK and scroll down to Solar Observing to see the one I made.

I hope this helps mate.

Baz.

Here's some Ha filters http://www.atscope.com​.au/coronado.html

Thanks for the input Baz. Read your page. Nice one. Good balance of beginning info and brevity. I know about the cheap telescope thing and that is what has stopped me.

Woah! Yeah I see what you mean about the price.

So those filters do the job by themselves. They do not go together with the foil?

And where do these fit in? The Baader 540nm Solar Continuum filters at http://www.aoe.com.au/​filters.html. They say they improve the image, but obviously they are not the H-A filters?

The cheap filters- galss or baader let you take a photo fo the sun as a smooth surface and the dark sun spots, but if you want to see the filaments and prominences, you need a good set of HA filter/scope...solarma​x brand (by Coronado/meade) are small one $500- $4000 scopes but cannot be attached to the dslr...here is a sample of a a $100 thousand oaks filer connected to an Orion 80 ED then to a DSLR in this case a Rebel xsi:

At first I thought in my noobiness you were talking about a $100-thousand "oaks" filter there!

OK. So I will just dream about the other kind of filter for now . What is the difference between the foil and the 540nm filters? Just image quality? They talk of filering out turbulance and such with the 540nm filter.

OldNick wrote in post #9750314
At first I thought in my noobiness you were talking about a $100-thousand "oaks" filter there!

OK. So I will just dream about the other kind of filter for now . What is the difference between the foil and the 540nm filters? Just image quality? They talk of filering out turbulance and such with the 540nm filter.

Oh funny- it is a $100 filter from Orion and the brand is Thousand Oaks....filters vary could be baader sheets, like aluminum sheets, you can actually make one by buying from camping stores one of those thermal blanket but they just block the lights, not cut off based on the freq of the lights to be able to see the details of the prominence and filaments.

look here:
see the prominence and filaments:
http://www.coronadofil​ters.com …al.php?album=Ja​ck+Newton/

A.S.I.G.N. Observatory wrote in post #9749511
Here's some Ha filters http://www.atscope.com​.au/coronado.html

Hey BAZ, Another familiar name here. How have you been?

If money was no object I would seriously consider getting some of the H-Alpha filters to view the sun with my 70mm scope. But at several thousand quid I can't. I did have the "cheap" solar film, but with no sun-spots it was a very boring image.

tkerr wrote in post #9751419
Hey BAZ, Another familiar name here. How have you been?

G'day there Tim! Nice to see you here dude.

Adrena1in wrote in post #9751904
If money was no object I would seriously consider getting some of the H-Alpha filters to view the sun with my 70mm scope. But at several thousand quid I can't. I did have the "cheap" solar film, but with no sun-spots it was a very boring image.

Yep, me too. When I first bought my foil and put it on, there was HEAPS of sunspot activity. That was years ago. The sun has got very quiet since.