First Light

[garryblueboy]

First light with new solar set up although not to much going on there are some beautiful proms and a nice big filament tuned in the Lunt 60 and views we as expected really nice Added the the Lunt 75 mm LS Etalon adjusted the tilt and ping the detail shone through image was much brighter than I expected and even the flares were so crisp don't think I'm going to get chance to try out on the Tak as my mount is packed away as going on hols very soon but can't wait to try single stacked on the Tak I'd say this is a definite improvement over my previous Lunt 50 double and the SolarmaxII Double stack there is no real sweet spot that I can see there is detail all around the disk unlike with the Coranado there is not much detail or reviews on the Lunt LS 75 but my first light I am impressed and glad I took the gamble and the bonus is it just screws right on the Lunt 60 with no adapter . As I was only thinking of it as single stack on my Tak .

[Stu]

Great looking setup Garry, glad it is working out as you hoped  

So, you now have the option of DS on the 60, or single stacked 75mm on the Tak?

[garryblueboy]

Hi Stu yes I have an adapter for  the etalon screws to and that fixes like a normal solar over the front of the Tak dew shield 

[Peter Drew]

Good to know that it is working well, one of the concerns of those who were "window shopping" on that etalon. The only problem with front mounted etalons (apart from price!) is that they restrict the donor telescope to the same aperture as the etalon, in your case the 75mm unit will be operating as a 60mm double stack, by no means to be sniffed at!. Your main advantage should be when fitted to your Tak as it will be operating at the full 75mm of the etalon, this should provide a brighter, more detailed image but perhaps not so contrasty as the double stack. As far as I know, the largest currently available front etalons are 100mm by Solarscope and 90mm by Coronado, the affordable way forward to larger apertures is a smaller internal etalon and mod.      

[DRT]

This looks great Garry. 

Out of interest, when you fit the 75mm Etalon to the Tak (or any other normal frac) presumably you still need the Lunt blocking filter at the other end rather than a normal diagonal?

if that is the set-up, how do you compensate for the lack of the pressure tuner?

Derek

[Merlin66]

Derek,

All the external etalons are tilt tuned rather than pressure tuned.

A tilt adaptor (like the T max on the Coronado) are included with the etalon.

I regularly use an SM60mm etalon on my ED80, with a BF15 blocking filter.

It can also be mounted on the front of my 102mm PST mod to give great double stack resolution (albeit at 60mm aperture)

 

[DRT]

2 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Derek,

All the external etalons are tilt tuned rather than pressure tuned.

A tilt adaptor (like the T max on the Coronado) are included with the etalon.

I regularly use an SM60mm etalon on my ED80, with a BF15 blocking filter.

It can also be mounted on the front of my 102mm PST mod to give great double stack resolution (albeit at 60mm aperture)

 

Ah, that now makes sense - thanks  

[garryblueboy]

Hi Derek as Merlin says it is tilt tuned and yes I use the blocking filter like in the Lunt 

Peter yes I'm told the views will be just as you described it was a bonus it fitted the 60 as the 60 stack is silly money 

I was lucky to do a trade for my Coranado I've been looking for a single stack 80 but have seen none come up secondhand I've had an interest in this 75 for a while and decided to give it a try I read on solar chat it was possable to use as double stack and would be as good as the 60 didn't realise that it would just screw straight on was expecting to have to get an adapter so bonus will be a few weeks before I can try out on the Tak but will post up my findings