I set the telescope up in the yard this afternoon and experimented with viewing the sun. Since I don't have a solar filter I just put a piece of paper a foot or so from the lens and focused on that. I used an old flannel sheet to create a make-shift tent to keep the paper shaded. Pretty cool and pretty creepy. All I could think of were the monoliths that devoured Jupiter in Arthur C. Clarke's 2010.
At one point I went inside to call the neighbors and see if they were interested in viewing the spots. I came back to find the flannel sheet smoldering. Oh, right: sun, big lens, focused point of light on cloth, sheet catches fire. A simple lesson I apparently need to keep re-learning.
Be sure to visit Nasa for some hi-rez photos along with a movie of the big flare-up [2meg file].
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