Abstract

At the end of February 2026, Maria gave me a Sky-Watcher 200P Classic. Visual observation with it is already a joy, and it also opens the door to basic astrophotography. From the beginning, one challenge stood out: preparing a simple and safe setup for the solar eclipse of 12 August 2026.

In this series of articles, Maria and I will go through the goals, issues, solutions, and results from our eclipse preparation. This first post covers the hardware: what we already had, what we added, and why we kept the setup simple.

Background

My first telescope was a Bluesky BT600. With it, I could observe the Moon, Jupiter and its Galilean moons, Saturn, and the Pleiades. That’s pretty much it. It is a nice telescope if you want to spark a child’s curiosity for astronomy, but it becomes limiting in the long run.

The Sky-Watcher 200P Classic is a completely different instrument. It gathers much more light, has a longer focal length, and uses standard eyepiece sizes. The difference is obvious as soon as you point it to the sky.

Hardware

Solar observation is extremely dangerous. A telescope concentrates light and heat, so looking at the Sun without a proper front-mounted solar filter can cause instant and permanent eye damage.

For this first version, we kept the hardware intentionally simple:

• Sun filter: Baader ASTF 200 mm OD 5.0
• Camera: Fujifilm X-M1
• Adapter: 3D-printed Fujifilm X mount to 1.25-inch barrel

Sun filter

The Baader ASTF 200 mm OD 5.0 is a full-aperture white-light solar filter. It is installed at the front of the telescope tube, before sunlight reaches the primary mirror. That is the only sensible place to block the energy entering this kind of instrument.

With this filter, we can observe and photograph the photosphere: the solar disc, sunspots, and the Moon moving across the Sun during the partial phases of the eclipse.

This filter does not turn the telescope into an H-alpha solar telescope. It will not show prominences, filaments, or chromospheric detail outside totality. It is also not optional during the partial phases: the filter must stay on whenever any part of the solar disc is visible through the telescope. In our case, we will keep it mounted until the Sun is below the horizon.

The filter is secured with adjustable bolts around the outside of the optical tube. The ring matches the tube diameter and the bolts hold it in place without pressing the film itself. As a second layer of protection, the filter and tube are tied together with Velcro straps, so wind or an accidental touch cannot make the filter fall away from the aperture.

The focuser is also relevant for photography. The Sky-Watcher 200P comes with a 2-inch focuser and a 1.25-inch adapter, so it can accept the eyepieces supplied with the telescope and larger accessories later on. That gives us room to adapt the camera setup without being immediately limited by the smaller eyepiece standard of my first telescope.

Camera

The camera is a Fujifilm X-M1. It is not a dedicated astronomy camera, and that is fine for our current goal. It has a 16.3 megapixel APS-C sensor, shoots RAW, and can be controlled manually, which is enough for single-frame solar images and basic eclipse experiments.

A dedicated planetary or solar camera would make sense later if we want high frame-rate video, lucky imaging, or a more rigid telescope connection. For this first setup, the X-M1 keeps the system familiar and lightweight while we learn the exposure, focusing, and tracking limits of the telescope.

To connect it to the telescope, we 3D printed a Fujifilm X mount to 1.25-inch adapter. The idea is simple: remove the camera lens, attach the adapter to the camera body, and insert the barrel into the focuser as if it were an eyepiece. This turns the telescope into the camera lens.

The adapter is not a precision-machined part, but it does its job: it stays in place and holds the camera tightly enough for first tests. It lets us check whether we can reach focus, how much travel the focuser needs, and how comfortable the whole setup feels before buying a better metal adapter.

Once attached, the camera becomes a compact prime-focus setup. There is no eyepiece and no camera lens in the optical path, just the telescope mirror, the solar filter, and the camera sensor. That keeps the number of variables low, which is exactly what we want while preparing for a first eclipse session with this telescope.

Setup overview

The complete setup is compact: the Sky-Watcher 200P, the Baader front filter, the stock focuser, the 1.25-inch adapter, and the Fujifilm X-M1. Nothing here is exotic, and that is intentional.

For a solar eclipse, the hardware should be boring enough that we can focus on timing, safety, exposure, and framing. The less we have to improvise during the event, the better.

Limitations

The main limitation is that the Dobsonian mount is manual. It is excellent for visual observing, but the Sun will drift through the frame and we will need to recenter it often. That is acceptable for short exposures and occasional images. It would not be enough for long automated sequences, but that is not the goal of this first version.

There are other limitations too. The 3D-printed adapter may introduce some flexure, the camera screen is not as convenient as a computer-controlled capture workflow, and manual focusing on the Sun will require practice. None of these problems block the project, but they are exactly the kind of details we want to discover before the eclipse.

Next steps

This is our baseline setup. Before the eclipse, we need to practice focusing on the Sun, record exposure values at different ISO settings, and rehearse the full sequence until installing, checking, and operating the hardware becomes routine.

The important lesson is simple: for an event that lasts only a few minutes, preparation matters more than gear. Good equipment helps, but a safe and rehearsed workflow is what will make the observation possible.