Solar eyepiece question.

shedweller

Can solar eyepieces be used for night time astronomy? Some say they have very good contrast due to being used for bright light so they are good for planetary work. How much better or worse than a dedicated planetary eyepiece is unknown to me.
Is there anything to be gained in using them with a seymour solar filter for solar observing? (Obviously some solar filter has to be used but if h-alpha is filtered out by the seymour filter then the solar eyepieces are less relevant surely?)

I've googled my little heart out and have got only the vaguest mention of them being good for planetary work.
Thoughts?

ThunderCat

shedweller wrote: »

Can solar eyepieces be used for night time astronomy? Some say they have very good contrast due to being used for bright light so they are good for planetary work. How much better or worse than a dedicated planetary eyepiece is unknown to me.
Is there anything to be gained in using them with a seymour solar filter for solar observing? (Obviously some solar filter has to be used but if h-alpha is filtered out by the seymour filter then the solar eyepieces are less relevant surely?)

I've googled my little heart out and have got only the vaguest mention of them being good for planetary work.
Thoughts?

I have never used a solar eyepiece, but I have used solar shades which people use for eclipses, and granted a solar eyepiece would be built with more superior materials etc. but if they share the same characteristics then the answer is no. There isn't another star or planet bright enough to view using that material which makes sense when you consider how much it dulls the suns brightness so we are able to see it without blinding ourselves. On that basis, if you can comfortably view a star or planet with the naked eye then the solar material/eyepiece will dull that little bit of light so much that it won't even register in your eye. Apologies if I misunderstood the question.

shedweller

Cool thanks. I read up on them and the proper solar eyepieces are actually clear! I was surprised at that tbh. I thought there would have been some filtration in them. Its all done at the front of the scope it would seem.
The reason for all this is that i might be able to get a set of them at a reasonable price with a barlow as well. Since i observe the sun frequently i just thought...

ThunderCat

shedweller wrote: »

Cool thanks. I read up on them and the proper solar eyepieces are actually clear! I was surprised at that tbh. I thought there would have been some filtration in them. Its all done at the front of the scope it would seem.
The reason for all this is that i might be able to get a set of them at a reasonable price with a barlow as well. Since i observe the sun frequently i just thought...

I didn't know that either. In that case it's pretty obvious that they are made from entirely different material to the solar shades I was talking about and you could be right about potentially being able to use them for planetary viewing. Hopefully someone with a definitive answer will chime in.

ps200306

Both these articles say the best thing you can do with an eyepiece solar filter is smash it with a sledgehammer:

http://www.astronexus.com/gatfaq/solar-filters

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/safe-solar-observing/

I think the idea is that if your telescope aperture is sufficiently large, you're going to melt the eyepiece and damage either your equipment or your eyes. I've no idea what a clear solar eyepiece is, though, or how it differs from any other eyepiece.

shedweller

Yeah i suppose i should have cleared that up. Yes there are solar eyepiece filters and yes they should be banned.
Im talking about fancy schmancy coronado eyepieces. Actually, the spiel that goes with the lunt eyepieces says they make excellent planetary eyepieces because of the good contrast.
Which begs the question; why arent all planetary eyepieces done the same??!
These are the lads i'm talking about: