Finding The Sun With A Telescope.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Suzy, a short length of straight rigid plastic tube ( I use a 150mm length of electrical conduit pipe, 20mm ID ) attached and aligned on the side of the dob. You could put a white translucent surface at the back, paper will do. Just aim at the sun till the sun shines through the tube or lights up the whole 'screen' surface.
On the refractor it just slides into the small 30mm finder mount.
Cheap, easy.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Suzy

Andrew, many thanks for the link. Nice & cheap at only around $12. But I think it looks too big for my little 4" with my ep & RDF already on the front of the tube. This looks like it's more for a refractor by the looks ? .

Suzy, I use mine on a 500mm telephoto, a 5" refractor and a C8. I gave one to a friend to use on his 12" Newt. I like the way the elastic forces it to align against the tube and there's no adhesive involved so it's easy to move between devices.

I had made my own but that only fitted the 5" and when I replaced the grab handle with a Losmandy D plate I lost the attachment point.

[charsiubau]

After reading ZeroId's post I tried the idea out on my small refractor. I simply taped a small piece of grease proof paper (baking paper) over the rear end of my red dot finder (it's a qwikpoint) and moved the telescope until the piece of paper was fully illuminated. It worked a treat and so quick and easy. Thanks ZeroId. Once the sun is found I'd cover up the front end of the red dot finder so it doesn't overheat.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Sweet !!

[julianh72 (Julian)]

Originally Posted by charsiubau

Once the sun is found I'd cover up the front end of the red dot finder so it doesn't overheat.

I wouldn't have thought there is any need - most RDFs are "zero magnification" devices, so it's just a piece of glass or plastic, with no magnifying (concentrating) effects to do any damage.