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Altair astro lightwave 66mm ed + lunt HW

Solar_observer

By Solar_observer
in Observing - Solar

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Solar_observer

Solar_observer

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Ok just come back in from first light with this new WL set up and too say "am i happy with it" is an understatement.

Ive been using a opticstar 80mm with baader film and ive been disappointed ( cant get up even close without the image going blurry, image not sharp even at low mag) no granulation. ....cant really make out penumbra of spots etc etc....

So ordered a lunt HW (came the other day) popped that in and too be honest it didnt make MUCH difference.

So my st120mm arrived today and promptly set up.

Weather is not the best, very high thin cloud and i would assume a lot of dirt and moisture cos of the high pressure we have over us (so take this into account )

Oh also using a baader continuum filter too.

Low mag....perfect image so sharp and crisp. Granulation EASILY visable, infact this is the first time ive seen it properly. The spots looking nice and sharp, (dont forget the spots visable at the moment are not that big) umbra and penumbra EASILY definable.

Ramped up the mag to 75x the max with my baader zoom and the detail stayed exactly the same, i think i could go further with the baader zoom barlow on better days.

THIS IS THE DETAIL ive been searching for ,WITHOUT spending a fortune on a new ota. Now i can happily and FINALLY observe both in H alpha and WL. (Also keeping an eye out for the hard too spot WL flare) ive read that if observing in Ha and you spot the start of a LARGE flare, switch to WL and you COULD see one.

Anyway........i want to thank all for the information on my thread and ESPECIALLY shane cos he had exactly the same set up and was able to stear me in this direction (cheers shane)

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Pig

Pig

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LoL ....did some one say swine :laugh: !!!!

Nice one Skem,

Great first light, views will get better as the seeing improves. It is quite difficult to pull detail out of spots that are the size of the current batch :smiley:

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Piero

Piero

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As far as I read, the equinox 66ED is one of the best <70mm out there. If you want to step up from the 66ED and stay below 70mm, you only have a TV-60 or a Tak-60.. 

There was the WO66 (SD?? dunno) which seems to be very similar to the equinox 66ED and might be available on the second market. 

If I remember there are two doublet models, one which worked nicely and one which didn't. 

The equinox 66ED can support 2" diagonals, but these are SCT 2" diagonal if choose that route. This was due to the (strange) design of the 66ED focuser.

Some people complained about the focuser, other didn't.. who knows.. generally they complain about the locking mechanism of the equinox focuser. 

Optics. The reviews I read seemed quite promising. No real complain about them. The TV60, and Tak60 are a step up in terms of quality, but there are comparison reviews reporting that the difference between a 60 and 66 was already perceptible. To me this does not matter. I wouldn't bother about it. If you want to step up in terms of aperture, I would consider 15/20mm at least. Eventually these telescopes are wide field (and they do an awesome job!), not light buckets. 

Aside from this, equinox 66ED and 120ED and 120F5 are quite different telescopes. I think your selection depends on what you want to see apart from the Sun.

- 66ED is a compact portable wide field telescope. To me wide field telescopes are superb, but for others are just expensive finders! They show their best between 10x and 50x. You only need a photo tripod if you want to be light.

- 120F5 is a wide field beast in comparison. You will need a mount. Being an F5 will show you a fair amount of colour aberration. Again, this is a wide field telescope, and low power is its strength.

- 120ED is a lovely bazooka! A really powerful refractor capable to show you some wide field (with ultra wide EPs) and minute planetary details. Plus tons of double stars. You will need a quite strong mount for this.

In conclusion: prices are well different, strengths are well different, additional accessories/mounts are quite different.. 

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