Fred Ley

Howdy Coyote21, Depending on one's needs, you can make a great filter with Baader filter material, as pointed out by Marinos. You can also purchase optical filters that are placed in front of the telescope's optics. I have a couple of Thousand Oaks Type II solar filters, the smallest is for an 8-inch Celestron or Meade Schmidt Cassegrain. Don't know if this is something that might be of interest to you, but thought that I'd let you know. Clear Skies, Fred

Hi Giorgosgr, What Crusader is mentioning is that one should always have a solar filter placed on any optical system that intercepts the light of the Sun prior to its reaching any optical surface. In the past, companies would supply telescopes with dark glass filters that one would place on top of the eyepiece. That is an extremely dangerous thing to do. The tremendous amount of heat that is built up at the eyepiece can cause the glass to crack or shatter; thereby causing irreparable damage to the human eye. As you know, always have your viewfinder covered so as not to fry the crosshair. I use Baader, Thousand Oaks, and Tuthill filters on my telescopes. They all give different colored images and work fine. It is best to ask questions when thinking about observing the Sun due to the great danger that it poses. A Sun projection screen works very nice, just use a simple two-element eyepiece when using this setup so as not to damage the eyepiece from the heat. Clear Skies, Fred

Hello Everybody, Way back in 1970, here in Athens, I switched my interest from astronautics to astronomy. Then there were just a couple people that I met who had an interest in astronomy. I wanted to meet more, so I went to the Eugene Evgenidis Planetarium and met Petros Rovithis, who worked there. I went up to the National Observatory of Athens and met a host of people there -Banos, Prokakis, Ilias, Makris, etc. I was told that there was a club in Athens, but I believe that they just got together on occasions. We did have a field trip with the group to the 25-inch Newall refractor with Dr. Plakidis in 1972. Got some nice views, especially of Saturn through the 25-inch Newall refractor. Over the past 34 years I have kept abreast of the advancement of amateur astronomy in Hellas. At times, when I can assist someone in the field of astronomy, I will gladly do it. My rewards is the satisfaction having been given the ability of assisting that person. As for my two cents worth, mankind can very easily find hundreds of excuses as to why not go forward. Perhaps it is the fear of failure, or of being overtaken by others, of having our ego bruised. Well, we would still be living in caves if people didn't take a dare. Sir Issac Newton very eloquently stated "I have seen further because I have stood on the shoulders of giants". To not take a dare is to automatically condemn one to failure, but, to attempt and fail is something completely different. I think that what has been done here with Astrovox, for example, is a positive step. I would like to think that we are all in this wonderful field to learn and share. With the proper vision and attitude, I can see no reason why having a central astronomy group in Hellas should not work for the betterment of those persons. Be they amateurs, school teachers, university professors, and the average lay person. Many people have different interests in the field of astronomy, and to be able to serve those interests would be a move in the positive direction. I think that an idea of this nature has merit and should be given every consideration as to why it could and would be a success. Well this is my impromptu reply. I do not wish for anyone to try and read anything into this. I am just sharing some thoughts with you. If we all can contribute one oar to the ship we will get it going at warp speed. (My apologies, as I do not know how to write in Greek. If I did I would probably get into trouble.) Clear Skies, Fred Ley

Hello Everybody, I have a few items that I do not need and would like to sell them. If anyone is interested, just send me an e-mail at frederick@instrumentsoflight.com and I will send you the list, by e-mail, as an attached word document. It is easier than writing everything down here. With the upcoming transit of Venus, I have a few white light solar filters for sale too. Clear Skies. -Fred

Hi, I came across these times for the different contacts for the May 4 lunar eclipse. Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 17:50:53 UT Partial Eclipse Begins: 18:48:20 UT Total Eclipse Begins: 19:52:07 UT Greatest Eclipse: 20:30:16 UT Total Eclipse Ends: 21:08:27 UT Partial Eclipse Ends: 22:12:15 UT Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 23:09:36 UT The information is from... http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2004.html#LE2004May04T Hope this helps. -Fred

For Sale: Never used Thousand Oaks full aperture, Type II, solar filter for C8 or Meade 8 SCT for 130 Euros. They are great for solar viewing, photography, Mercury and/or Venus transits and partial solar eclipses. Instructions for SAFE use provided with each filter and must be read.

Hello Anthony, I have a 5-inch F/9 refractor on a German Equatorial mount with dual axis drives and control box. The telescope has a 8x50 dovetail mounted finder and has a 2-inch focuser with a 1.25-inch adapter. The mount also has an illuminated polar finder telescope. The telescope has been set up once here in Athens. A old friend of mine was able to split a 0.09 arc second star with this telescope the one time it was used in California. I don't know if this is similar to what you are looking for. I am selling it for 900 Euros. If you would like to see it set up and observe through it, kindly let me know. Clear Skies, -Fred