Which Herschel wedge?

[Bobby1970]

I am torn between these two options:-

 

https://www.365astronomy.com/Lacerta-Brewster-angle-Herschel-Wedge-with-30mm-Prism-T-thread-ND3.0-1-25-Nosepiece-and-1.25-Eyepiece-Holder.html

or

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/lunt-solar-white-light-systems/lunt-white-light-herschelsolar-wedge.html

 

I will be using this with my 72mm Semi Apo scope.

 

The lunt seems to be supplied with a nice case and is a little bit more expensive. The lacerta seems a bit different with the 56 degree angle rather than 90?

Anyone have experience of both?

 

 

[Space Hopper]

I only have experience with the Baader HW's which are excellent and a class above everything else.

But i appreciate you've not listed them and they are expensive, hence possibly your other two choices.

However, keep in mind they take up a big chunk of lightpath : there may be some difficulty obtaining focus with either of them with a 72mm scope.

How are you for back (in) focus ?

[Bobby1970]

13 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I only have experience with the Baader HW's which are excellent and a class above everything else.

But i appreciate you've not listed them and they are expensive, hence possibly your other two choices.

However, keep in mind they take up a big chunk of lightpath : there may be some difficulty obtaining focus with either of them with a 72mm scope.

How are you for back (in) focus ?

Thanks for the reply.

I have taken a punt on the APM/Lunt one. £138 inc delivery seemed pretty reasonable.

Im unsure what you mean by the "in focus" comment. I have no issues focussing visually or for imaging the sun in WL with the scope with a home made solar film filter. 

 

 

[Stu]

2 hours ago, Bobby1970 said:

Thanks for the reply.

I have taken a punt on the APM/Lunt one. £138 inc delivery seemed pretty reasonable.

Im unsure what you mean by the "in focus" comment. I have no issues focussing visually or for imaging the sun in WL with the scope with a home made solar film filter. 

 

 

I think you will be very happy with it, I had a Lunt 1.25" and it is an excellent bit of kit. The CoolWedge is a step up at high power, but is pricey. £138 for the performance you get is excellent value I reckon.

[Paul73]

Just the Lunt here for prolonged use. Very happy with the results though.
Tried the Baader at a star party and it seemed to take more magnification, but it is a lot more money.

I’m more than happy with the Lunt.

Paul

Edited December 30, 2019 by Paul73

[AdeKing]

I have the 1.25" Lunt, the 2" Lacerta and picked up the Baader Cool Ceramic earlier this year. 

The Brewster angle of the Lacerta gives a greater amount of brightness adjustment when you use a single polariser compared to the Lunt but apart from that there is little to choose between them. 

I originally went for the 2" Lacerta as it was much cheaper than the 2" Lunt and I thought I needed 2" because I intended to use a 120mm refractor. 

However, in reality the 1.25" Lunt copes very well with the 120mm Refractor and doesn't get too hot. 

The most important thing to me was to ensure that the wedge had a ND filter fitted internally and didn't need me to remember to attach an ND filter to the nosepiece of an Eyepiece which some of the wedges, including the 1.25" Lacerta did. 

The Baader is very very good and the view is better but like most astronomy kit items the improvement is small but noticeable. 

[Stu]

8 hours ago, AdeKing said:

The Baader is very very good and the view is better but like most astronomy kit items the improvement is small but noticeable. 

I think the differences probably only really show up when used in a decent apo frac (120ED qualifies ), at high power and under good to excellent seeing. That said, when that lot comes together the views can be pretty staggering.

I think with less good achros, in particular faster ones which show spherical aberration the detail improvements get lost. Something like a 102mm f11 would still do a pretty good job!

[Bobby1970]

Thanks for all of the info guys. I have been considering a wedge for a while as I really enjoy viewing in white light. I did used to have a Ha scope too (Lunt ls35dx) . But somehow always preferred the simplicity of white light. And especially imaging in WL. I'm still unsure of getting a baader solar continuum filter though. 

[AdeKing]

49 minutes ago, Bobby1970 said:

Thanks for all of the info guys. I have been considering a wedge for a while as I really enjoy viewing in white light. I did used to have a Ha scope too (Lunt ls35dx) . But somehow always preferred the simplicity of white light. And especially imaging in WL. I'm still unsure of getting a baader solar continuum filter though. 

I have a Lunt LS60DS that I use a lot, but although its fantastic to see the proms and there is generally something of interest even when the WL disc is blank, it's the prospect of WL visible sunspots that makes me excited to view. 

The SC filter does boost contrast and brings out the faculae, but it is quite expensive. 

You could try a #58 green as an alternative, it does bring out the contrast though not as well as the SC. 

There is a thread here which also suggests combinations of other night time filters that you might already have such as Oiii but I've never tried this myself. I did start with the #58 green before I could afford the SC though. 

 

[John]

Another happy 1.25 inch Lunt HW user here. I use a single polariser on the eyepiece barrel and turn the eyepiece to get the desired brightness levels. It works very well IMHO. I agree with Stu that quality refractor optics give better quality results. Putting the Lunt wedge on my Tak FC-100DL produces amazingly sharp and detailed solar views. Not that there has been a huge amount to see recently 

 

[Stu]

48 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

I have a Lunt LS60DS that I use a lot, but although its fantastic to see the proms and there is generally something of interest even when the WL disc is blank, it's the prospect of WL visible sunspots that makes me excited to view. 

The SC filter does boost contrast and brings out the faculae, but it is quite expensive. 

You could try a #58 green as an alternative, it does bring out the contrast though not as well as the SC. 

There is a thread here which also suggests combinations of other night time filters that you might already have such as Oiii but I've never tried this myself. I did start with the #58 green before I could afford the SC though. 

 

It's also worth trying a UHC or better still an OIII filter if you have one I think. They all tighten the image up a bit and help bring out granulation and faculae.

[RT65CB-SWL]

And another happy/satisfied 1.25 inch Lunt HW user here too...