Double vision

[Albireo380]

I just got a Skytee II and Berlebach. I have the use of a PST and have an Ikharus 102ED with a white light filter.

So ... I set up the Skytee on the Berlebach, with an HEQ5 extension pillar. It put the eyepiece heights of both the Ikharus and the PST at a nice level.

As we are getting some sunshine up here in Scotland today (it has been an awful May/June) I had a look at the Sun.

In the PST, there was lots of prominences almost all around the solar disc. There was a particularly large loop prominence about 7pm, with a big area of plage and an associated filament just in from it. Lots of "spike" and "fountain" prominences all around the disc.

Moving to the Ikharus 102 (+ white light filter) I could see Sunspot groups 1243 and 1244. 1244 was particularly nice, with about 6-8 spots, with both Umbra and Penumbra clearly visible on the larger ones.

All in all a very nice hour's solar observing. The Skytee and Berlebach combination was rock solid, with the slo-mo controls working smoothly and easily. A definite "manual grab n' go" winning combination.

Tom