Had a cautionary reminder today of the dangers of solar astronomy through a telescope. Had just finished a photo and video session on sunspot activity, using my Skywatcher 254mm Dobson on an equatorial platform with a Baader solar filter and Canon 100D DSLR. Turned off the platform drive, removed the DSLR and T-ring, put the black plastic lens cap over the eyepiece holder.....and.....familiarity breeding contempt.... absent-mindedly removed the Baader filter. I turned around, put the filter on the table, picked up the mirror cap, turned back to the scope to put the mirror cap on...must have been about 5 seconds.....there was smoke coming out of the top of the OTA, a neat sol image-sized hole had been burnt out of the eyepiece lens cap. No permanent damage was done to the OTA, only the lens cap, which is now kaput. A cautionary lesson indeed.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 13:34:47 +0000
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