Solar filter recommendations

[Jnicholes]

Hi everyone,

So, I dodged a bullet today. I was just getting ready to get my solar filter onto the telescope, when I noticed it was dirty. I decided to clean it, and after cleaning it, I noticed a big black spot on the filter. I decided to hold the filter up to the sun without it on the telescope to see if there was a problem. Sure enough, there was. Where the black spot was, the sun was much brighter. If I used my filter today, I would’ve gone blind.

I’m so glad I caught that before solar viewing.

Needless to say, I need a new solar filter. I thought I’d post and see if anybody knew of a good brand or type that might be good for my 80 mm refractor. The only constraint I have is it needs to be an aperture filter.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good durable solar filter?

Jared

[Thefatkitty]

Hi Jared, good thing you checked! Yeah, that would've been a nasty bullet for sure!

I have the same spec of frac that you do, an 80mm at 900mm F/L as well; my old Celestron C80-HD. I primarily use it for Solar.

I did some looking for a filter, and decided to make my own with some Baader white-light film. If you're observing, OD 5.0 is the way to go; I use it also for Sun pictures with my DSLR.

It was really easy to do. I made mine so it fit over the front of the scope with the dewshield off. Here's some pics of that:

Also, for keeping it clean, I bought a plastic container with a lid for 2 bucks that the filter fit into. I made the filter back in July of 2017, and not a pinhole yet as well as dust free

If you don't want to go the DIY route, Astrosolar is at least a good starting point for pre-made filters.

And nothing against Thousand Oaks, they also make a quality product, but with their filters the Sun is yellow, whereas with the Baader it's white. Depends on your preferences.


Best of luck Jared, happy you checked your filter first before using it (I always do, even with my camera) and clear skies!