[skygawker (Allan)]

thanks guys - but I'm a bit worried about pointing that big mirror at the sun even thru' that relatively small aperture (but hey it's as big as the primary on my first tasco refractor all those years ago - I had a special solar filter for that). My Mum said never look at.....well you know the rest. I also read somewhere that some scopes' bits will actually melt if you don't use the correct methods to use them for solar observation. I don't see much plastic in my scope but I don't know about the secondary mirror/mounting adhesive.

What about the the 'projection' method? I remember this from my early days. Can I do this with a reflector thru' the reduced aperture without OTA component meltdown? I'm curious to observe our daystar for sunspots again - it's the only star we can see that shows a disk and the signs of rotation. But SAFETY FIRST!