Tommo200163

Did your PST arrive as expected? If so, have you had chance to try it?

Hello everyone I have just registered to share my experiences with my brand new PST received from Santa on Christmas Day 2020! I have been considering a solar scope on and off for probably ten years and finally took the plunge thanks to my lovely wife agreeing to make it my Christmas present. I had hesitated because of the often underwhelming reports I had read over the years from new users of solar scopes who frequently seemed disappointed. Comments like 'no detail visible', 'looking down a straw', 'tiny image' had made me think very hard about spending such a large amount on a dedicated solar scope. Christmas day afternoon here in the UK midlands was bright and sunny so I set up for a starter session. (You have to play with your new toys on Christmas Day!) The sun was low in the South. I had pretty low expectations and assumed it would just be a familiarisation session to check eye pieces etc. How wrong I was! Within seconds of putting in an eye piece and focusing, I had tuned the scope and immediately saw some nice prominences. Conditions were a little hazy but i was blown away to see this the first time I used the scope. I had been using a white light Kendrick filter on my 4" Mak for several years but the PST instantly 'eclipsed' that experience. I spent a couple of hours trying different set ups such as my Barlow and finally settled on a 25mm Kelner eyepiece and 2x Barlow for the best views under the current conditions. I managed to see a little surface granulation but mostly concentrated on the prominences for now. Hopefully surface detail will come with more practice and better conditions when the sun is higher. I checked the Big bear Solar Observatory website and compared what I had seen with their H-alpha picture and realised I hadn't done too badly considering their isn't that much activity at the moment (and it was my first session under mediocre conditions). I had a second session today (27th) and conditions were a bit clearer. I manager to see much more prominence detail and observed changes in shape over about half an hour. Still no surface detail (less than 25th) but I will work on this. Overall, I am absolutely 'over the moon' with my PST and have no regrets in purchasing it. I feel very fortunate to have been able to try it so soon after receiving it, and look forward to spring 2021 and lots more sun activity fingers crossed.