Contemplating buying a solar telescope

[Amra]

The stars have disappeared as the summer skies brighten up & lately I can only see Arcturus & Vega in the northern hemisphere.

So I would like to step into the world of h-alpha solar viewing to satisfy my hunger for astronomy during the summer months.

So far I have looked at the Coronado PST, it seems very affordable and I think I have all the other equipment needed to do solar imaging. I have a HEQ5 mount, ball head on dovetail & a 1.25 inch 2x barlow with a T-thread.

I've seen the PST @ 699$ mostly. If anyone can recommend a good supplier in Europe I'm all ears.

I'm also open to suggestions & ideas if the budget is worth stretching for a better solar telescope, I could stretch the budget to double the amount if it was worth it. But I was wondering if the price gap from the PST to bigger solar telescopes is just too large and it would be better to get the PST as an entry telescope and re-sell it later on & buy something bigger if I really end up digging h-alpha solar viewing.

I would love to hear your ideas & suggestions SGL.

[brantuk]

This is the guy you want - he's reviewed just about every solar scope on the market and runs a great solar website. Hth

http://www.solarscopereviews.com/

[Amra]

Thank you! I know where to spend my day reading up now.

[JB80]

I would recommend http://www.teleskop-...o/Coronado.html as they are likely to be able to send you the telescope, I don't think they have any restrictions on who they can ship to and the Faroe Islands is on their list of places for shipping.

They are extremely trustworthy, just check the supplier review section for peoples experiences. They are also very competitive with their pricing.

The PST is an excellent scope and your plan seems sound, I would consider sticking with the normal PST and then upgrading it with a PST mod. If you are careful enough sourcing the required components it should come in slightly cheaper than say a Coronado Solarmax.

[Amra]

JB80, I think your link is broken! Leads to a yahoo answer to the question 'What if Michael Jackson didn't die?' Haha, I'm not the only one putting weird questions to google to digest, I suppose.

I've read briefly about these PST mods before, but don't remember any details, is there a good guide to these mods and what do they provide? Very interesting stuff.

[JB80]

Hmmm, that was weird. Sorry about that I think I have fixed the link now.

Yes, one of our members here Merlin(66) has an in depth write up about PST mods, usually he suggests to send him a private message to request a copy. It will explain all.

There are also quite a number of good threads in the DIY section of SGL.

Also Photosbykev has a good write up as well.

http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress/2011/11/29/pst-modifications/

[umadog]

What about the 35 mm Lunt?

http://www.stephenramsden.com/solarastrophotography/reviews/LUNT%20LS35THa%20review.pdf

If the tube has indeed been shortened then it might make a better base for photography than the PST, which I believe does need a barlow for prime focus AP. The downside of that is that you have no option for wide-field prime focus. Also, the blocking filter in the Lunt is easily replaceable: so you can easily get a larger one if needed.

[Amra]

I would recommend http://www.teleskop-...o/Coronado.html as they are likely to be able to send you the telescope, I don't think they have any restrictions on who they can ship to and the Faroe Islands is on their list of places for shipping.

They are extremely trustworthy, just check the supplier review section for peoples experiences. They are also very competitive with their pricing.

The PST is an excellent scope and your plan seems sound, I would consider sticking with the normal PST and then upgrading it with a PST mod. If you are careful enough sourcing the required components it should come in slightly cheaper than say a Coronado Solarmax.

You said they were competitive with the pricing, but the PST is significantly more expensive from them, 795€ is like 1000$. Unless this version of the PST is any different from the ones I've seen at 700$?

But maybe I can contact them for an offer. Thanks for the suggestions so far anyway!

As far as wide-field prime focus, why would one want that? There isn't really anything else to look at except the sun and it might as well be fully zoomed up surely? Maybe except on a solar eclipse.. and we do have one coming up in March 2015 in the Faroe Islands.

[JB80]

Yes but are you talking $700 US?

If it's from the US new most retailers don't ship Meade products to Europe, secondhand though they will ship it. Same is starting to apply in the UK too, 795 Euro equates to £680 which you can find cheaper and you can find dearer.

[Amra]

Yeah, I had a quick look at ebay and prices are between 750-800$ US and 70-80$ for shipping.

[E621Keith]

If you buy from outside EU, you need to add import tax and VAT to your total. In UK, that is around 25% of the total cost (item cost + shipping). Is Faroe Island VAT charged at the same rate as Denmark (25%)? If so, you will be looking at an additional 30% in Tax and import duty.

That $800 PST and $80 shipping will cost you around $1140 when it gets to your door.

[JB80]

Excellent point, that totally slipped my mind.

[JamesF]

There are a few niggles with the PST as umadog points out. It's awkward to reach focus with a camera because of the design and there are build quality "issues" such as the focuser prism not being fitted very accurately. They're all fixable. It's just a shame it's necessary. Most of the threaded parts seem to be smeared liberally with threadlock too

For imaging many people seem to use the DMK41 with a specially shortened nosepiece because cameras with a smaller sensor can't fit the entire image in one frame. It's not a cheap camera

On the positive side, it's possible to mod it to increase the aperture and improve the view.

Overall I'm happy with mine, but for what it costs I'd like to have received something that was rather more carefully assembled and designed to allow imaging more easily.

James

[Amra]

If you buy from outside EU, you need to add import tax and VAT to your total. In UK, that is around 25% of the total cost (item cost + shipping). Is Faroe Island VAT charged at the same rate as Denmark (25%)? If so, you will be looking at an additional 30% in Tax and import duty.

That $800 PST and $80 shipping will cost you around $1140 when it gets to your door.

Yeah, I know. I guess that explains the higher prices from all the EU shops. I have to buy stuff tax exempt from EU as well anyway, because the Faroe Islands aren't a member of EU, so I guess that puts the prices even in the end.

Been very impressed with all the mods I've seen in various threads, but that seems more trouble than it's worth for me at the moment, maybe after using it for a while... I just want something ready to use out of the box.

[allcart]

To be honest, a pst works great but does have issues with imaging. It is possible as countless folks can verify with photo's.

Knowing what I know now about the cost of modding, I would go straight for a 60mm solarmax or Lunt. Modding is really for enthusiasts who like to tinker. When you eventually work out the final cost of your mods, you will have spent almost as much as a basic Lunt LS60T. If you can't stretch to a 60mm Lunt or Solarmax, then the Lunt 35mm is a good option.

You would have to do the research to find out where you could get it from and work out the costs.

[bingevader]

Where are we looking for one now? I'm a little confused as at the moment the UK is still in Europe!

In the UK, Telescope House sell PST and Lunt.

As do Green-witch and Altair Astro do Lunt.

I was looking at solar filters the other day and came across this website, but it has links to other European dealers who do PST and Lunt.

Cheers

[Amra]

I wish there was some local place I could check them out at. Astronomy scene is none-existent here.

[Sam]

I had similar challenges as you when I bought my PST last year. The retailers here seem to like to double their prices, fortunately I found a retailer not too far away who was willing to ship and saved about $600.00 on the local price. It's a great scope and I found no problems with the build quality. The only issue is putting a camera on it as mentioned above, a Barlow sorts that out so a full disk image takes a mosaic of 4 images.

[Amra]

I had similar challenges as you when I bought my PST last year. The retailers here seem to like to double their prices, fortunately I found a retailer not too far away who was willing to ship and saved about $600.00 on the local price. It's a great scope and I found no problems with the build quality. The only issue is putting a camera on it as mentioned above, a Barlow sorts that out so a full disk image takes a mosaic of 4 images.

It would still fit completely on my dslr when barowed though, I'm pretty sure. I don't really have a good CCD yet, that's for a future purchase.

[umadog]

In my (limited) experience with PST prime focus imaging, the problem with the barlow is that it magnifies the image rather a lot. So if the seeing isn't great, the barlowed view will be too much power and result in blurry shots.

[JB80]

But you can unscrew the lens of the barlow and use just the tube, no?

I have never tried it though.

It's a great scope and I found no problems with the build quality. The only issue is putting a camera on it as mentioned above,

Same here, I bought mine and it was perfect straight out of the box, not a single issue at all. The QC issues of the earlier models have improved greatly.

It would still fit completely on my dslr when barowed though, I'm pretty sure. I don't really have a good CCD yet, that's for a future purchase.

I'm not certain, I used a Hyperion zoom eyepiece to connect the DSLR to the PST because it has a t-ring attachment and this eliminates the need for a barlow. The Hyperions are expensive but there are definitely cheaper zooms with the t-ring adapter which in principle should do the same thing. But with this method the whole disc does fit.

Knowing what I know now about the cost of modding, I would go straight for a 60mm solarmax or Lunt. Modding is really for enthusiasts who like to tinker. When you eventually work out the final cost of your mods, you will have spent almost as much as a basic Lunt LS60T.

My stage 1 mod came in under 1000 euros including the PST, I was lucky and bought secondhand a complete donor OTA and ERF assembly and all I had to get was the 2" adapter.

It would be worth putting in a want ad on SGL or astrobuysell if this was the way you chose to go.

[umadog]

But you can unscrew the lens of the barlow and use just the tube, no?

I have never tried it though.

No, I think the problem is insufficient in-focus and you're using the barlow to bring the focal plane outwards. Removing the lens of the barlow won't help.

http://www.cloudynig...24/Main/3850381

[Amra]

I've earned a bit of money during the summer, and I can't get the thought of owning a solar telescope that I can image with easily out of my mind! Now I'm thinking about the Lunt60, but there are so many variants of it, which one to go for?

Or say at a budget between 1000-2000£, what telescope would you guys go for with Ha solar imaging in mind?