Re: ATM Sungazing for Newbies?

["Ed Hood" <aes@southwind.net>]

Second verse same as the first...

30+ years ago, with my 4.5" Newt, when I heard the "tink", I was looking
thourgh the eye piece.  Got to see the sun real close!  Felt like someone
hit me in the eye.  I'm lucky I still have both...

Ed
Hutchinson, Kansas

From: Jeff MacQuarrie <jamacq@erols.com>
><<He tells a great story and I too enjoyed it, but would you confirm for me
>the truth or fiction that in attempting to focus the sun's rays you could
>inadvertantly focus them on the eyepiece lens and cause it to crack or
>shatter?  Is this an old wives tale or a real possibility?>>
>
>This is absolutely true!!  In my youth, I was using a 4 1/2" Newt with the
>supplied lens-covering Sun Filter.  I was observing and heard a "tink"
>sound.  I stopped and looked and discovered that the filter had cracked
>right down the middle.  Fortunately, it did not allow enough light to pass
>through to cause me any damage, but you can be assured that it was the last
>time I ever used a solar filter.
>
>Jeff
>
>----
>Jeff MacQuarrie's Astronomy Homepage
>http://members.aol.com/tchphysics/index.htm
>