Peter Drew

Attempts to remove cosmetic dust present far more risk of spoiling the performance of an objective. Consider two courier trips, dismantling of the objective, re-assembling without introducing further dust and re-collimation all of which will ultimately make no difference to the performance. 🙂

I have run a 12" Meade SCT on an EQ6 Pro and found it to be just adequate. I think you would find the 14" a bit OTT, you would need a pretty substantial rail to attach the OTA one sided and possibly a cw bar extension to fit the necessary number of counterweights. To load and remove the OTA stand it corrector downwards on a platform just the right height so that the OTA can be slid into a vertically positioned puck and then tightened. 🙂

I would think that you could, 25x + is usually enough to see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's two main cloud belts but the images will be very small. 🙂

I don't think most proms have sufficient energy to result in CME.s. It takes an explosive large scale outburst to be effective, the mass and the velocity need to be sufficient to overcome the huge gravity of the Sun's mass. I really thought that the outburst last Thursday lunch time was going to produce a CME as it dispatched a large area at high velocity. I watched it streaming outwards for nearly an hour but it gradually slowed down and faded before returning to the surface. 🙂

It can be quite easy to predict some proms. The dark filaments are proms seen in plan elevation against the surface, if they survive to be seen at the edge they become proms. When they are seen half and half during this transition they are known as filaproms. Flares, often confused as proms by newcomers to Ha viewing are fast moving high energy events, much brighter than the general surface and usually of short duration. I always recommend keeping an eye on any hotspots near the edge as being areas where sudden activity may occur. All proms are huge by terrestrial standards, one the size of Africa would barely be seen from Earth. 🙂

I caught what must have been the same blue patch as you did Paul. No time to set up the big "gun" but had one of my best views so far for its size with a 60mm Coronado front etalon that I had just that moment fitted to a 72mm Megrez. 🙂

I remember this shootout as I was there at the time. My main interest was by how much the Sky 90 in the middle would fall short of the two 4" scopes. I had recently sold the Sky 90 to another friend that was also present. I'd had the Sky 90 for a few years and had never used it on the night sky, I bought it originally to use as a Ha solar telescope and then found out how much a 90mm Coronado and matching blocking filter cost 😱. The shootout was conducted on Jupiter and I was impressed with all three, particularly the Sky 90 which was snapping at the others' heels. Good job for my friend that I had already sold it to him!. 🙂

Next time you polar align mark the position of the tripod feet. Placing it there for solar viewing should be adequate for tracking. If imaging, the exposures are so short, inaccuracies of setup won't matter. 🙂

At this level I think there is more difference between observers than that of the telescopes. Keen eyed observers of the likes of mikeDnight manage very well with 4" refractors whereas myself with aged eyes find the images too dim at the image scale I need to see the detail adequately. ☹️

I still have one of each, the 102 FL and the 8.5" on the equatorial. To be honest, I prefer the Newtonian over the refractor, they are both of similar optical quality but the extra aperture counts on many occasions. 🙂

Actually, it was a pinhole camera shot on photoreactive paper. Taken just after mid day according to the gnomon. 🙂

Yes, it can be done. I built this 14" as well as a 16" and 17" but I had adequate facilities and the materials were mostly aluminium. 🙂

That's the theory, but......... During construction of a SCT the factory use a number of optical and mechanical adjustments to optimise the performance of the optical set, a procedure that many owners may feel uncomfortable with. 🙂

The general specification, roof prism, 8x40 and rubber armoured will appeal to birdwatchers. 🙂

If interested in selling the "duff" one, send me a PM. 🙂

In what manner is your original PST not working? 🙂

I can't directly comment on the models you mention as I've not used these or any other commercial offerings. I do have considerable experience of self built binoculars/binoscopes with similar specifications so would add to your list of queries, whether either can be user adjusted for collimation and which supplier has the best returns policy. Good luck with your research, large binoculars are wonderful instruments. 🙂

I've been watching this off and on all afternoon. Hazy most of the time but this cleared somewhat around 5pm so great high resolution results from then until 6pm, best views similar to the above image. Remarkable number of surface filaments, the haze seemed to enhance their contrast. 🙂

Should be fine with a full aperture film filter. Main downside will be warmth inside the tube causing tube currents, as suggested, covering the tube with reflectix could be well worthwhile, the top solar imagers do this. 🙂

You should be ok with using a Cassegrain for white light imaging provided that a full aperture film filter is used. A Herschel Wedge is not suitable as the full aperture heat would impact the secondary prior to the filtration. The same goes for standard Newtonians. 🙂

The vanes holding your secondary mirror are the biggest scratches your primary mirror will ever get. 🙂

I always say and write, a binocular. (Aspiring pedant) 🙂

I think I would baulk at paying for a 60mm aperture solar telescope if its best performance was at 30mm aperture. 🤔

+1 🙂

I have two of these set up as a binoscope for terrestrial and astronomical use. They are great up to 75x with zoom eyepieces for terrestrial observation and easily support 200x on bright astronomical objects. 🙂