Solar Finder for most telescopes, aluminium design
Given how easy it is to spot the sun it may seem unintuitive that it can actually be difficult to locate and centre the sun in a telescope. Normal finder scopes supplied with telescopes are not suitable for viewing the sun, and even if they were they would still force you to look straight at the sun - an uncomfortable and hazardous situation. The same applies for simply sighting along the telescope’s tube to try and locate the sun. For this reason it is necessary to locate the sun indirectly. There are two usual solutions that you may use to locate the sun without a proper solar finder: 1. You can observe the shadow cast by the telescope on the ground. What you are looking for is the shadow of the telescope tube itself. When pointed at an angle to the sun you may see that the shadow is elongated. Once pointed straight at the sun the shadow will be as small as possible and perfectly round. (In reality it will not be round since the telescope is almost certainly not at a 90 degree angle towards the ground. This means the shadow will likely be long and narrow. The goal is for the shadow to become as narrow and as short as possible.) The problem with this method is that it is not very precise. It will get you in the vicinity of the sun, but you will likely still need to proceed with the following: 2. You can scan the sky until you “accidentally” find the sun. What you do is to point the telescope as close to the sun as possible with method 1, then look into the telescope’s eyepiece (or on the camera’s display), and slowly move the telescope left and right as well as up and down. Eventually you will locate the sun, but this may take several minutes and can at times be quite a frustrating experience. The Nienna solar finder was developed to solve this problem and make locating the sun a quick, easy, and painless process. Our Solar Finder is available from Astrotec
- Products Made in Sweden
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- BrandNienna
- ConditionNew
- Country of originSweden
- HS number90059000
Description
Article no.: SOLARFINDER
Nienna's Solar Finder is machined from aluminium with white powder coating. The coating was chosen in order to provide good contrast for the dot that marks the sun's location. N.B: The white powder coating is as near as possible identical to the coating used on Sky-Watcher telescopes. But of course, white colour fits in just about everywhere.
By default the Nienna Solar Finder comes equipped with a dovetail connector that will fit finder bases commonly found on most telescopes by Sky-Watcher, Celestron, TS-Optics, Omegon, some Bresser and Meade models and several more. Simply slot the finder into the base and lock it with the base’s thumbscrew.
The Solar Finder can be easily adjusted with spring-loaded alignment screws.
2. You should see a light dot within the shadow. If the shadow is offset too far towards one side you may need to move the telescope until the shadow nearly completely covers the rear surface. At this point the dot should be visible.
3. Move the telescope until the light dot ends up on the centre marking of the projection surface (see image). The sun should now be centred in the field of view of your telescope. We recommend using an eyepiece with the lowest possible magnification in order to locate the sun.
By default the Nienna Solar Finder comes equipped with a dovetail connector that will fit finder bases commonly found on most telescopes by Sky-Watcher, Celestron, TS-Optics, Omegon, some Bresser and Meade models and several more. Simply slot the finder into the base and lock it with the base’s thumbscrew.
The Solar Finder can be easily adjusted with spring-loaded alignment screws.
How to find the sun with the Nienna Solar Finder
1. Point the telescope towards the sun. You do not need to be extremely precise with this, a rough approximation will do. Once you are in the vicinity of the sun check the projection surface of the solar finder (see image). You should see a shadow cast by the forward part of the solar finder.2. You should see a light dot within the shadow. If the shadow is offset too far towards one side you may need to move the telescope until the shadow nearly completely covers the rear surface. At this point the dot should be visible.
3. Move the telescope until the light dot ends up on the centre marking of the projection surface (see image). The sun should now be centred in the field of view of your telescope. We recommend using an eyepiece with the lowest possible magnification in order to locate the sun.
Compatibility limitations
The distance between the opening at the front of the solar finder and the bottom of the mounting base is approximately 22-24mm. On some telescopes, particularly some refractors, the diameter of the dewcap is so large that it will cast a shadow on the front of the solar finder, rendering it impossible to use. Please check your telescope before ordering, especially if you own a refractor with a large dewcap diameter.Files and media
 | Manual (Swedish) |
| Manual (English) |
| Manual (German) |