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June 7th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Ehhh, I kinda doubt it. Sunlight coming through the scope would be focused at just an inch or so away from the eyepiece. Any further away and it would be so out of focus that it would not be intense enough to start a fire. And what idiot that owns a $7000 Celestron would leave it outside all the time without covering it up with a tarp when not in use? Can you say “Dirty as hell optics”?
June 7th, 2012 at 10:17 am
“Long Rifle Drive”
That’s an awesome street name.
June 7th, 2012 at 11:16 am
Robert: I used a 12″ dob as a projector during the last eclipse and would have used one during the transit if the damned clouds hadn’t made an appearance.
The 10mm plossl eyepiece I used got a bit warm, but not terribly so.
That being said … if the scope is just set up in a window, and a wall or, more likely, a curtain is within an inch of the eyepiece, that telescope would make a fine firestarter if the sun passed directly in front of the objective.
You could visible feel the heat while holding a paper up for that solar projecting on my Dob ( the paper projection screen itself got good and warm ), and I’m sure it would burn a damned big hole in anything that got within inches of the eyepiece.
June 7th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Kristopher: Yes, that’s true. Inches away yes. But not something that’s many feet away. Maybe I’m reading the article incorrectly but are they saying that it was inside or outside? It reads like outside, but was it sitting pointing at a window and had something very close to the eyepiece?
June 7th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Welcome to Arizona!
June 7th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
If he was using the wall for projecting the transit, and had it focused there, I could see this happening.
June 7th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Down in Florida there’s a lighthouse that had to be modified slightly after sunlight shining through the Fresnel Lens during the day kept lighting brush fires. A metal shield was placed on the landward side of the lens and the fires stopped.
June 7th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Those Fresnel lenses where fun.
Edmund’s Scientific use to sell a plastic one the size of a manhole cover … it got pulled when they discovered people were doing things like melting pavement and large metal objects with it.
June 7th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Returning from a star party, I left my 8″ reflector in the back of my VW hatchback. Later, I noticed a charred semicircle where the rising Sun reflected off the mirror and struck the front plywood bulkhead. If you will notice, magnifier lamps now come equipped with a cover for the lens, or at least a warning sticker to not allow the Sun to start something on fire. That means it happened, and lawyers noticed.