Observing the Sun

The Sun is a great target for super space events like eclipses, sunspots and transits (that's when Mercury or Venus move in front of the Sun). There are only a few ways of doing this safely because the Sun, as you know, is so big, bright and hot that without precautions you are risking your eyesight.

The warning, as ever, is: Never look at the sun with your eyes or through a telescope or binoculars - this will certainly cause permanent eye damage.

That said, there are two safe ways of viewing our nearest star: by projecting the Sun's image using a telescope, or simply by making a pin-hole in a piece of card!

1) The projection method involves aligning the telescope up with the Sun (remembering never to look at the Sun through the telescope!) and allowing the image of the Sun to fall onto a piece of card held away from the eyepiece. The distance of the card makes the Sun's image bigger or smaller.

"How do I line up the telescope?" I hear you cry! Well notice the shadow the telescope makes on the ground. Move the scope until the shadow is at its smallest.

You may have to do some slight fine adjustments, but you'll already be very close. To enable a better view, a large piece of card with a big hole can be attached to the telescope (a sun shade) to block the direct sunlight from reaching the viewing card - it's all shown in the diagram on the right.

And now you can see transits, eclipses and sunspots safely.

2) The pin-hole method is simple and easy - but only useful for eclipses. You just need two pieces of card, each about the size of your hand.

Make a small hole in one, and allow the light from the Sun to fall through this hole on to the other piece of card. It's that simple! The hole will produce the exact image of the Moon passing in front of the Sun as the eclipse happens. Remember, never look through the pin-hole itself at the Sun. If you find the image is not great, try a slightly larger or smaller hole, trying to make it as round as possible.

There you have it! Happy SAFE Sun observing.

© Anton Vamplew 2008