THE FIRMAMENT - LX200 Home Made Solar Filter

To observe and/or image the Sun with my LX200 I have made a solar filter.

First a word of WARNING: the combination of a telescope and the Sun is very dangerous: make sure you know what you are doing because instant severe eye damage or even blindness could be the price you pay for a moment of negligence.
NEVER use a filter directly on the eye piece, but ALWAYS put a filter on the 'sky end' of your telescope or any other optical device.
IMPORTANT: when you image or view the Sun only ONE person is responsible: YOU !!
To protect your eyes you MUST ONLY use PROVEN quality material which has been especially made for this purpose and do NOT EXPERIMENT with something YOU think will be good enough!
Make sure that the material you use is free of pin-holes or blemishes by holding it up to the Sun or a very bright halogen lamp and and looking through it with the naked eye.
Finally when testing your Solar Filter always do that with utmost care: do NOT start with looking into the eyepiece but first hold your hand in front of the eyepiece: if you see a lot of light projected on your hand you can be sure that your filter is not in proper order, so you have to take it off and inspect it by holding it in a very bright light, for example a halogen lamp.
For all my Solar Filters I used special foil: Baader AstroSolar (TM) Solar Filter Foil (Sonnenfilter Folie).

I used a square piece of plywoord, 35x35 centimetres.
To avoid the central obstruction I drilled a 9 cm wide round hole off-centre and used metal brackets to attach a 10cm dia PVC tube to the plywood.
Felt was used to close any gaps between the PVC and the plywood.
The Baader Solar Foil is held in place by a 10cm PVC bracket.
At the top of the plywood is a bolt with wingnut to fasten the plywood to the piggy back construction.
At the bottom I bolted a small handle to secure the solar filter also there.

A closer look.
Luckily it does not matter too much if the Solar foil is wrinkled [this is my 2nd attempt].

The connection with the piggy back construction.
Please also note the felt.

At the bottom an adjustable strap makes sure the filter remains where it is.

The strap goes to the handle at the back of the OTA.

The first test result.
Alas: on March 2, 2006 there were no sunspots at all so focusing was very hard.
But the solar filter performed as expected!

A freckled Sun.
April 27, 2006 12:08 UT.
LX200 10-inch f/10 with 0.33 Focal Reducer [focal length 1015mm], Baader Infra Red Blocking Filter; Baader Solar Filter; Vesta SC3a b/w RAW camera.

	I used a square piece of plywoord, 35x35 centimetres. To avoid the central obstruction I drilled a 9 cm wide round hole off-centre and used metal brackets to attach a 10cm dia PVC tube to the plywood. Felt was used to close any gaps between the PVC and the plywood. The Baader Solar Foil is held in place by a 10cm PVC bracket. At the top of the plywood is a bolt with wingnut to fasten the plywood to the piggy back construction. At the bottom I bolted a small handle to secure the solar filter also there.
	A closer look. Luckily it does not matter too much if the Solar foil is wrinkled [this is my 2nd attempt].
	The connection with the piggy back construction. Please also note the felt.
	At the bottom an adjustable strap makes sure the filter remains where it is.
	The strap goes to the handle at the back of the OTA.
	The first test result. Alas: on March 2, 2006 there were no sunspots at all so focusing was very hard. But the solar filter performed as expected!
	A freckled Sun. April 27, 2006 12:08 UT. LX200 10-inch f/10 with 0.33 Focal Reducer [focal length 1015mm], Baader Infra Red Blocking Filter; Baader Solar Filter; Vesta SC3a b/w RAW camera.