[Chaos-l] The Sun this year

[Jayme Hanzak]

During the last annular eclipse that had its mid point in northern Ohio.I think it was back in 1994. I used #14 Welders glass taped to a piece of cardboard. I also stacked two pieces for a video camera  and I tracked it with a barndoor mount. I had to use two pieces because the CCD chip was to sensitive with only one. It worked well. We also used binoculars looking through the welders glass. 
  
The event is self was grand, but I found that the best part was recording my parents and my aunt and uncles voices. It fun to go back and hear their excitement for the event. My dad and my aunt have past on so now the video is a time capsule.   
  
Just a simple way of observing. 
  
Jayme 


----- Original Message -----


From: "Allen Davis" <starstorm151 at embarqmail.com> 
To: "Tony Garcia" <randomcoffee at gmail.com>, Chaos-l at rtpnet.org 
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 8:53:08 PM 
Subject: Re: [Chaos-l] The Sun this year 



I would love to join you out west for the transit…what  a good excuse to see something like Chaco Canyon.  allen 
  

From: Tony Garcia [mailto:randomcoffee at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 12:57 AM 
To: Chaos-l at rtpnet.org; Allen Davis 
Subject: The Sun this year 
  

I am curious if any viewed the last transit of Venus or an Annular eclipse, and what equipment people may have used and would recommend. ( at risk of starting a never ending thread I know, but we are an astronomy club, why not? )   A few opinions would be great. 

In just a few months we have an Annular Eclipse in the west on May 20th- ( which I am seriously considering flying out for since it will be over parts of the west I know very well,  the Black Rock Desert all the way to Farmington NM, Chaco Canyon and ABQ. Lots to choose from! )   

And the transit of Venus on June 5th. ( heck, I may fly out west for both, or the NC mountains sound nice. or how hot will Medoc be in June ?) 

Considering the rarity of all of this I am considering getting a more serious solar telescope.   I do already have a white light solar filter for my 6" maksutov-newtonian ( levy comet hunter ), which gives me decent white light views of sunspots, but that's it. 

Not bad, but should I consider more?  A 60mm Coronado?   A 60mm Lunt either visual or imaging? Something else?  

And are the views really that much more awesome?  ( a few thousand dollars more awesome than what I have now! ) 

Should I get a double stack filter if going that far?  

Will the general solar viewing and imaging w/ an H-A telescope be quite fun if you are a solar enthusiast? ( i've read this book, Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy   so I'm somewhat into it. ) 


( one more dangerous side road -  was also considering a better mount for maybe catching a picture or two with a canon DSLR - currently using a good alt-azimuth, was thinking about the new meade LX80, or maybe the IEQ45 ?  Maybe I don't need that much mount for 17-20 pounds of telescope, and less w/ 60mm solar scopes at 8 - 10 pounds. ) 



-C. Tonyg 



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