Hi Janna,
As someone who is also woefully ignorant about telescope operation, this is what I learned while prototyping experiences during the October eclipse:
It's a lot harder to locate the sun with a telescope than you think. You can't look directly at the sun to try to site it. It moves, so you have to either have a tracking telescope or manually move it. It takes some figuring to find a scope with the right barrel length so you can get the whole sun, including the corona, in view. We worked with the local Astronomical Society to manage a telescope, and I highly recommend using folks who work with telescopes regularly to manage a telescope. We purchased them an eyepiece camera insert so we could run a live feed.
If you want visitors to view the eclipse non-digitally, I recommend using sunspotters, which are easily adjustable and create a projection of the eclipse. They are much more expensive than a cheap telescope but infinitely easier to manage. We also landed on binoculars with solar filters (brand-name sunoculars come with builtin filters) as the easiest magnified view of the sun for visitors as it is much easier to find the sun this way.
Best,
Nina
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Nina Ridhibhinyo
Director of Programs & Exhibits
ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
Burlington VT
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-20-2024 11:30
From: Janna Bennett
Subject: Solar Telescope
Hello everyone!
My museum is looking for recommendations for purchasing a telescope for the eclipse. Fingers crossed the weather will allow us to use it. I was thinking of going digital so that I could project it to a monitor. I am, however, woefully ignorant!
Many thanks in advance,
Janna Bennett
-- Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County
222 S Washington Street
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
765-362-4622