Transit of Venus / How I photograph the Sun

PROJECTING THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE. I've been photographing the Sun since I was thirteen years old. I started doing it to photograph the sunspots. Some reflecting telescopes, ( The lenses in refractors get too hot. DON'T do this with a refracting telescope. ) come with a solar projection screen right in the box. Edmund Scientific used to sell one. But all you need to do is use a board, or even a wall, and don't use your eye to point the telescope into the Sun. When there's shade all the way around the telescope tube, it's pointing at the Sun. ( Understand ? ) The farther away you move the screen, the larger the image will be. I've blown the sun up to an image over 20 feet in diameter, and you can really see the sunspots. It's amazing. Then just photograph the screen. By the way, it's startling that there were absolutely NO spots on the Sun for this. Very unusual. -Noah TWO IMPORTANT NOTES. FIRST: THE SUNLIGHT COMING OUT OF THE EYEPIECE CAN BLIND YOU IN AN INSTANT. TREAT THE EYEPIECE LIKE A LOADED GUN AS YOU SET UP. AND DON'T ACCIDENTALLY BLIND A FRIEND STANDING NEARBY. SECOND: BEAR IN MIND THE HEAT OF THE SUN CAN AFFECT THE OPTICS OF THE TELESCOPE. DON'T LEAVE A TELESCOPE POINTING AT THE SUN UNATTENDED, AND DON'T PUT YOUR EYE UP TO THE EYEPIECE IF IT HASN'T HAD THE TIME TO COOL OFF.