Tinted glass must always be employed, unless a dense fog prevails, in
which case the example of the old observers may be emulated. Several
coloured glasses, of various depths, are needed for use according as
the occasion requires. With a high Sun on a bright June day a darker
tint will be necessary than in the winter, when the Sun’s rays are
but feebly transmitted through the horizontal vapours. Red glass is
unsatisfactory, as there is much heat and glare with it; but when used
in combination with green the effect is excellent. Green alone is often
used, and answers well; but it is not always thick and dense enough for
the purpose. The plan of Sir W. Herschel, to interpose a glass trough
of diluted ink, has never become popular, though he found it to succeed
admirably. Smoked glass is also adapted for solar work, and recommends
itself as being always obtainable at a minute’s notice. Some observers
use a Barlow lens, with a thin film of silver deposited on the
surfaces. It is then sufficiently transparent to give a neutral tint
when held before a light, and sharp definition is said to be obtained
without additional protection. Mr. Thornthwaite has also employed a
coloured Barlow lens with effect.
A solar diagonal is a very necessary appliance if the observer would
ensure perfect safety; for any refractor exceeding 2-inches aperture
may, when turned on the Sun, focus enough heat to fracture the tinted
sun-glass. The diagonal, by preserving a part only of the solar rays
which are transmitted by the object-glass, enables observations to be
made in security. This little instrument is comparatively cheap, and no
telescope is complete without one. Dawes’s solar eyepiece serves the
same purpose in a different manner, but it is an expensive luxury. In
the latter construction there is a perforated diaphragm fixed near the
eyepiece and so arranged that the quantity of admitted light may be
modified consistently with the observer’s wishes.
In reflecting-telescopes with glass mirrors, effective views of the Sun
are obtainable by employing unsilvered mirrors; for sufficient light is
reflected by the glass surfaces to form good images of solar detail.
What, perhaps, interferes more than any other circumstance with
successful observation of the Sun, is the fact that the rays, falling
upon the telescope and objects near, induce a good deal of radiation,
the direct tendency of which is to impair the definition and give a
rippling effect to the disk. This is sometimes present in such force
that the spots are subject to an incessant commotion, which serves
to obliterate their more delicate features. A shady place is best,
therefore, for such work; and if the observer leaves his telescope
for a short time, intending to resume observations, it should never
be placed broadside to the Sun, or the tube wall get hot, and heated
currents must be generated in the interior, to the ruin of subsequent
views.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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