New PST - delighted!

[frogbmth]

Well I have had my PST for 48hrs and got my second use in this afternoon. I caught the eclipse yesterday for 20 minutes, today I popped in a budget 12.5mm plossl and saw my first prominences! The supplied K20 is not going to get any use now! Its rubbish!

I currently have it on a cheapo camera tripod and when the wind blows it wobbles. Also its hard to align correctly - its just not that smooth. I am considering getting the Acuter Merlin tripod/mount for it.

I'm as excited as a 5 year old at Christmas!

Andy

[steppenwolf]

A great purchase, I'd love one.

[Radagas]

I agree. It's avery good piece of kit. It's also well worth getting the Cemax 12mm and Barlow which are designed for use with the Coronados.

There's nothing like doing your astronomy in your shirt sleeves, but I would recommend the use of a black old fashioned photographer's cloth to cut out the (very bright) stray light. I find that it works much better than the Solar-Mate solar shade.

Radagas

[NickH]

Personally and owning some Cemax EP's I would get some nice cheap wide angle MA EP's (9mm to 6mm) of you want some really cracking views of the Sun, filling most of the EP..

Ambermile (Arthur Edwards) flogged me some several years ago, and they give by a country mile the best solar views I exeprience from the PST, SM40, SV50 and 60 and SF70.

The ones I have are unbranded otherwise I would let you know exactly what they were..

Just my 2 cents having owned , used and imaged through lots of Solar kit..

[AstroTiger]

yes still awaiting for the opportunity to image with mine

Not kidding about the black cape esp for the laptop

Right pain

As for the tripod, try the EQ1, very good, comes with drive too!

Takes no time at all to set it up!

[frogbmth]

Thanks for the pointers. I picked up a 9mm eyepiece and am looking forward to a glimpse of sun this weekend.

I also picked up the Merlin mount this week and am surprised that it feels pretty sturdy and well made. The drive system feels smooth but some time in the garden will be the real time to know if it tracks ok or not! All I need to do now is raid the airing cupboard for a dense blanket and I'm ready to go

Has anybody tried some sort of darkroom tent as a solution for imaging in daylight? I'm currently installing windows on my eeePC to see if its up to the job of imaging as its the only laptop I have, and then will look to imaging solutions. Something for another thread later....

Andy

[NickH]

Big white thick towel...that works..

White to stop the heat, thick to stop the light

[Andrew1972]

I love my PST. I'm still trying to find out how the best way to take images. I've taken a few with my digicam held up to the eyepiece and some have come out just about ok but i'd love to take some 'nice' shots. I've heard stories that you can't take good shots with the PST (so they can sell more of the 'image-ready' Solarmax 40?). If anybody does know a good technique then please let us know (in the appropriate forum of course!)

[NickH]

Can't take a good shot with a PST...

Try www.sunwatching.co.uk

Click on January 2008

And if you modify the PST...whole new ballgame

http://southcelestialpole.org.au/forum/index.php/topic,7476.0.html

Enjoy a great little scope

[frogbmth]

I'm very much looking forward to getting into imaging with the PST and the challenge brings with it extra rewards when you pull it off. I think I will go for a DMK monochrome cam. Just need to sort my visual side first

[NickH]

Excellent camera choice...

DMK21AU04.AS for H-A is superb

[frogbmth]

Well the sun is shining nicely between a few clouds, and I have been observing a nice big prom on the Southern edge of the disc. I have also seen the orange peel effect for the first time today so I must be getting used to observing. 8)

The Merlin mount works nicely, holding the scope nice and steady in the strong gusts of wind today and the tracking function appears to work with a nice slow slew mode to look around the disc at higher magnification.

Andy