Apo or solar scope

[Silent Running]

Hi,

I would be grateful for some up-to-date advice. I'm wondering about going for a dedicated Solar telescope. I wonder how the long term solar hands feel currently about Lunt 80 or 100 single or double stacked versus an F8 100mm apo with say a Quark Chromosphere (or even a front mounted etalon!). Is a consensus emerging.

I have read that some people found a lot of internal reflections with the double stack  Lunt 100, and preferred the 80. I should say my current experience is with my Tak FSQ85, with a front ERF and Quark which I borrowed. I know its not the ideal setup but I got some OK images. 

Any advice would be welcome

Clear skies

 

[David Smith]

Nice image. Can't help you much with your choice of instrument, I still use a PST for HAlpha as a Lunt 60DS PT is well out of my budget range let alone an 80 or 100 Need a lottery win for one of those in my case If your budget can stretch to either option then I guess a lot of the decision comes down to "what do you want to do"? A quark is not ideally suited to capturing full disk images (although it can be done) but a Lunt 80 will do this much better. On the other the Quark is excellent (assuming you get a good one) at close-ups of solar features where as you will need to rely on barlows or focal extenders if you opt for the Lunt.

With that kind of budget you could go down the route of buying a Lunt (or other) HAlpha filter set (front mouted etalon and blocking filter) to use with your existing Tak?

 

[Owmuchonomy]

For visual And imaging in the same setup I wouldn’t use a Quark. If you are just into imaging then it’s worth considering. You will need to budget for a good IR filter for the quark if your aperture is over 80mm. TBH I used one at 80mm with my Quark.  My Lunt 80 is much better suited for visual and imaging in one package.

[Silent Running]

Thanks for info and opinions. I guess it will be a little while before I can justify more gear!

[xtreemchaos]

with the quark you would be better with a doublet achro, "im taking it that your tak has a extra lens thats why your using a front mounted ERF ?", it dont have to be ED or anything flashy just as long as it has a tidy focuser. but if its full discs you want then a lunt would be your best bet but full discs can be had with the quark you just have it do mosaics " which alike to putting your hand in a bag of ferrets covered in blood ?" but can be done. goodluck. charl.

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

For a dedicated setup for the long term with a compromise between aperture, potential image scale and visual use with various camera options is the 80~102mm range. I would specifically target the Solarmax 90mm front mounted etalons on any donor scope of your choice, with a 15mm or even 30mm blocking filter. Two front mounted 90mm solarmax etalons in a double stack configuration would be my "do all" instrument if I were to get rid of everything and go down to a single long term option. I would prefer a non-dedicated scope to be able to have two front mounted etalons (which are better, uniformity, angle of entrance, etc) and to be able to remove them and place other filters for Calcium, white light, etc, with one scope. You don't need an APO for this of course, an achromat is frankly as good (and better in many ways for this). So you can get a scope with whatever focal length you want, and use 90mm to know what the focal-ratio will result as and then control imaging scale and camera options from there. That would be my "one and done" scope suggestion for solar in the long run, assuming average seeing conditions.

Very best,

[Sunshine]

11 minutes ago, MalVeauX said:

Heya,

 For a dedicated setup for the long term with a compromise between aperture, potential image scale and visual use with various camera options is the 80~102mm range. I would specifically target the Solarmax 90mm front mounted etalons on any donor scope of your choice, with a 15mm or even 30mm blocking filter. Two front mounted 90mm solarmax etalons in a double stack configuration would be my "do all" instrument if I were to get rid of everything and go down to a single long term option. I would prefer a non-dedicated scope to be able to have two front mounted etalons (which are better, uniformity, angle of entrance, etc) and to be able to remove them and place other filters for Calcium, white light, etc, with one scope. You don't need an APO for this of course, an achromat is frankly as good (and better in many ways for this). So you can get a scope with whatever focal length you want, and use 90mm to know what the focal-ratio will result as and then control imaging scale and camera options from there. That would be my "one and done" scope suggestion for solar in the long run, assuming average seeing conditions.

Very best,

Im keeping an eye on this thread for info on long term imaging solar options, MalVeaux, you really know your stuff and your work is second to NONE, i would buy your neighbours house just to live next door and pick your brain lol.