Sunday, May 20, 2012

Making a pinhole projecter for viewing the sun

A pinhole projector can be used to watch the sun safely. Even if you do not have a solar telescope or a special solar eyeglasses you can still watch the Venus transit with this simple homemade pinhole projector. It can be used during eclipses and during the Venus transit. All you need is a box, as large as possible. For the Venus transit a bigger box is required or simply connect several boxes together.

All methods for viewing the Venus transit safely

Here are the steps to create the pinhole projector.

1) Cut a hole in the box
2) Cover it with foil
3) Make a tiny hole in the foil using a booby pin
4) put the box toward the sun
5) Never look directly at the sun!
6) A tiny projected sun will appear at the end of the box
7) The sun size is about 1/100 of the box length
8) You can even use a refrigerator box!

Here is how it looks

A box to project the sun image
The Box. Notice the foil on the right.

 The sun is projected in the box


 The sun is projected in the box
 The sun is projected in the box
And a short video which will explain how to use it...





All methods for viewing the Venus transit safely