Ouch! That hurts. 
Crazy story out of Minneapolis...
Text pasted below, but photo and video can be found at this site:
Linton
http://wcco.com:80/local/mike.lynch.telescope.2.1963406.html
WCCO Radio Meteorologist Mike Lynch says the stars aligned when a fire on his back deck started with his telescope.
"I get a call from my wife up at 'CCO radio and she calls me up and says, 'the telescope just blew up and the deck's on fire,' and I rush home and she has called 911," said Lynch.
What baffled firefighters was clear to Lynch, who is an avid astronomer. He left his telescope out on his deck.
"I put a towel over the eyepiece hole so it wouldn't get a bunch of dew on it," said Lynch.
But overnight, the telescope raised into the sky somehow.
"The most amazing thing happened -- the chances of this are so small -- the sun just happened to cross right in front of the opening of the scope," said Lynch. "It collected the light, bounced it back to the focal point."
That's similar to starting a fire with a magnifying glass, but much more powerful, according to Lynch. The sun hit a 14-inch mirror that collects the light.
"It bounced up. It was magnified greatly, bounced up and came out through (the eyepiece), started the towel on fire," said Lynch.
Luckily, the fire didn't spread to his home.
On Thursday night, Lynch held a stargazing class at Casey Lake Park in North St. Paul. He usually tells the stories behind the constellations, but had another story to tell about the power of our planet's biggest star.
"It just goes to show the power of the sun and you never ever want to look at the sun through a telescope," said Lynch. "What are the chances it will pass through a telescope like that? Pretty small."
Crazy story out of Minneapolis...Text pasted below, but photo and video can be found at this site:
Linton
http://wcco.com:80/local/mike.lynch.telescope.2.1963406.html
WCCO Radio Meteorologist Mike Lynch says the stars aligned when a fire on his back deck started with his telescope.
"I get a call from my wife up at 'CCO radio and she calls me up and says, 'the telescope just blew up and the deck's on fire,' and I rush home and she has called 911," said Lynch.
What baffled firefighters was clear to Lynch, who is an avid astronomer. He left his telescope out on his deck.
"I put a towel over the eyepiece hole so it wouldn't get a bunch of dew on it," said Lynch.
But overnight, the telescope raised into the sky somehow.
"The most amazing thing happened -- the chances of this are so small -- the sun just happened to cross right in front of the opening of the scope," said Lynch. "It collected the light, bounced it back to the focal point."
That's similar to starting a fire with a magnifying glass, but much more powerful, according to Lynch. The sun hit a 14-inch mirror that collects the light.
"It bounced up. It was magnified greatly, bounced up and came out through (the eyepiece), started the towel on fire," said Lynch.
Luckily, the fire didn't spread to his home.
On Thursday night, Lynch held a stargazing class at Casey Lake Park in North St. Paul. He usually tells the stories behind the constellations, but had another story to tell about the power of our planet's biggest star.
"It just goes to show the power of the sun and you never ever want to look at the sun through a telescope," said Lynch. "What are the chances it will pass through a telescope like that? Pretty small."
