![]() Last updated: 8 November 2006 |
Subject: Solar Skreen Adaption For Mercury Transit Sent: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 06:42:39 From: ericb760@netzero.net (ericb760@netzero.net) With the upcoming Mercury transit I figured I'd try to view it with my ETX-125. A local camera shop was going out of business so I was able to pick up an old Tuthill Solar Skreen for $5.00. The problem was that it was 4.5" in diameter. To solve the problem I stole one of my daughter's black plastic notebooks, cut it into a rectangle and attached velcro strips to the edge so that it makes a cylinder that slides over the OTA. Next I cut a 5 inch circle out of cardboard and a 4 inch circle inside of that so I had sort of a cardboard doughnut. I placed the Solar Skreen on this and used short lengths of duct tape to secure it. Next I used duct tape to secure it to the tube that I hade made. After first verifying that the whole thing had no stray light sneaking in I slid it onto my 125 and, Voila, instant solar filter! It works perfectly and cost me about $5.50. Thought I'd tell you about it in case anyone would like to duplicate it. Be warned, I did remove the spotting scope while viewing the sun.
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