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Without a suitable filter to attenuate the light before it enters the telescope, the damage would be devastating. Ever use a magnifying glass to burn a piece of paper (or anything else)? The impact of the sunlight in the telescope is much more intense.
It would permanently blind whichever eye looked even for an instant.
It would permanently blind whichever eye looked even for an instant.
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I can tell you from personal experience; years ago as a unsupervised overly curious 12 year old with a brand new 365 power telescope, I wonder what the Sun would look like through a telescope. I then decided to try it, and here's what happen: I intuitively knew that it was dangerous to look directly at the Sun even with just the unaided eye. I pointed the telescope at the Sun. Fortunately for me, I had enough sense to not just plop my eye down on the eyepiece. I approached the eyepiece slowly and cautiously, and stopped myself short of peering directly into the lens. The light and heat was simply too intense. I back away from the telescope and then checked it for damage. Sure enough the eyepiece lens were destroyed, and made unusable. A some what costly experience that could have been far, far worth. Looking at the Sun through a telescope that isn't properly set up for it does not show you any meaningful details worth mentioning. The Sun would just look like a bright white ball of light filling the eye piece field of view, nothing more. Don't risk destroying your telescope, and more importantly -- your eyes.
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Do not look at the sun through unprotected telescope, with remaining good eye!
http://marshalltyler.com/pgs/fun.htm
http://bjo.bmj.com/content/94/10/1406.ex… <- forced (torture) solar observing
Solar retinitis and rentinopathy -
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles…
http://bjo.bmj.com/content/62/8/543.full…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_retin…
On a good, sunny day, take an ordinary magnifying glass and have it focus the suns rays on a piece of paper. It'll catch fire or at least smolder and char. Now imagine that piece of paper was your retina.
Get the idea what might happen?
Not only is it a bad idea, its not even an awful idea to think about.
Always, always, always use safe solar viewing methods -
http://www.mreclipse.com/Totality/Totali…
http://www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/hi…
http://marshalltyler.com/pgs/fun.htm
http://bjo.bmj.com/content/94/10/1406.ex… <- forced (torture) solar observing
Solar retinitis and rentinopathy -
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles…
http://bjo.bmj.com/content/62/8/543.full…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_retin…
On a good, sunny day, take an ordinary magnifying glass and have it focus the suns rays on a piece of paper. It'll catch fire or at least smolder and char. Now imagine that piece of paper was your retina.
Get the idea what might happen?
Not only is it a bad idea, its not even an awful idea to think about.
Always, always, always use safe solar viewing methods -
http://www.mreclipse.com/Totality/Totali…
http://www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/hi…
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Yes. It will damage your eyes faster and more seriously than with the naked eye. A telescope increases the heat collected from the Sun MANY TIMES compared to the naked eye.
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If you look at the sun without proper solar filtering you will damage your eyes. Period.
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Yes
No
No