For solar viewing, I verbally (out aloud) go through a mental check list before putting eye to ‘scope;
- Full aperture Baader solar film filter fitted to objective end of telescope – check.
- Finder scope either:
- NOT fitted – check, or
- Objective and Eyepiece caps securely fitted -check.
- Then I insert my eyepiece into the telescope focuser and run through the checklist once again - check.
- Then I place my hand behind the eyepiece before I put eye to ‘scope.
- Then the very first look is a very, very swift glance, just in case.
- One final check of solar filter and finder scope.
I then begin normal viewing. I usually use a low power eyepiece and point the tube until the shadow of the tube on the ground is minimised. Using this technique, 75% of the time the Sun is in the 1 ˝ degree FOV.
On my refractor I have a
TeleVue Sol Searcher fitted and that puts the Sun in the FOV 100% of the time.
Cheers
Dennis