![]() However, many astronomical eyepieces are designed with multiple lens elements that are optimized for observing faint objects with a wide and flat field of view. Which type of eyepiece should you use for observing the Sun? With a telescope equipped with a white-light solar filter or a hydrogen-alpha solar filter, nearly any standard astronomical eyepiece gives an acceptable view. This is a much safer way to aim a scope at the Sun because you are looking at the finder, not through it. When the finder is aligned with the telescope's optical axis, the observer simply moves the telescope until the Sun's image is centered on the screen. This little device uses a small hole and a translucent projection screen to help aim a telescope at the Sun. A pinhole finder such as the Televue Sol-Searcher, is less expensive and easier to use than a magnifying finder. The Sun is extremely bright, however, so a finder with an objective lens is not as important as when looking for faint night-sky objects. Some manufacturers such as Orion make a dedicated 9x50 solar finder with a white-light filter. But for frequent solar observation, or for a dedicated solar telescope, it makes sense to get dedicated solar finders. Standard white-light solar filters, which are placed securely over the finder's objective are available in small sizes for finder scopes. ![]() Standard astronomical finders should be covered with their dust caps during solar observing sessions to reduce the risk of looking through a finder. Finders are also useful for finding the Sun, but standard astronomical finders MUST NOT be used for this purpose because the intense light of the Sun poses the risk of quick and severe eye damage or permanent blindness. Most telescopes show only a very small part of the sky, so most observers use a finder, a small telescope or non-magnifying reflex device that helps with aiming a telescope quickly and accurately at a celestial object. Celestron have also announced the introduction of 10x25 and 10x42 EclipSmart solar binoculars, but these have not been released yet. Lunt Solar Systems makes a line of dedicated pocket-sized 6x30 miniSUNocular and 8x32 SUNocular solar binoculars with non-removable white-light solar filters that reduce the Sun's intensity, including infrared and ultraviolet light, by a factor of 10-5 or more which makes them safe for visual observation. ![]() But a pair of dedicated solar binoculars with built-in solar filters makes solar observation even more convenient. Meade has also announced their EclipseView 10x50 solar binoculars which feature removable solar filters. These filters are available in many sizes. Baader AstroSolar filters, especially, give excellent views of the Sun when securely fit over both objective lenses of a pair of binoculars. White light filters, described in an earlier article, are available to fit over the objective lenses of many sizes of standard binoculars. ![]() For casual 'grab and go' observation of these events, a pair of binoculars is the ideal tool. ![]() Even the largest solar features are hard to see with just your eye and a safe solar filter, so a little magnification helps a lot when observing major sunspot groups, eclipses, and planetary transits across the face of the Sun. ![]()
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