First Light with New PST

[Tommo200163]

Hello everyone

I have just registered to share my experiences with my brand new PST received from Santa on Christmas Day 2020!  I have been considering a solar scope on and off for probably ten years and finally took the plunge thanks to my lovely wife agreeing to make it my Christmas present.  I had hesitated because of the often underwhelming reports I had read over the years from new users of solar scopes who frequently seemed disappointed.  Comments like 'no detail visible', 'looking down a straw', 'tiny image' had made me think very hard about spending such a large amount on a dedicated solar scope. 

Christmas day afternoon here in the UK midlands was bright and sunny so I set up for a starter session.  (You have to play with your new toys on Christmas Day!) The sun was low in the South.  I had pretty low expectations and assumed it would just be a familiarisation session to check eye pieces etc.  How wrong I was!  Within seconds of putting in an eye piece and focusing, I had tuned the scope and immediately saw some nice prominences.  Conditions were a little hazy but i was blown away to see this the first time I used the scope.  I had been using a white light Kendrick filter on my 4" Mak for several years but the PST instantly 'eclipsed' that experience.  I spent a couple of hours trying different set ups such as my Barlow and finally settled on a 25mm Kelner eyepiece and 2x Barlow for the best views under the current conditions.  I managed to see a little surface granulation but mostly concentrated on the prominences for now.  Hopefully surface detail will come with more practice and better conditions when the sun is higher.  I checked the Big bear Solar Observatory website and compared what I had seen with their H-alpha picture and realised I hadn't done too badly considering their isn't that much activity at the moment (and it was my first session under mediocre conditions). 

I had a second session today (27th) and conditions were a bit clearer.  I manager to see much more prominence detail and observed changes in shape over about half an hour.  Still no surface detail (less than 25th) but I will work on this.  

Overall, I am absolutely 'over the moon' with my PST and have no regrets in purchasing it.  I feel very fortunate to have been able to try it so soon after receiving it, and look forward to spring 2021 and lots more sun activity fingers crossed.   

 

  

 

[Merlin]

Surface detail does seem to have been in short supply, even though prominences have been, well, prominent.

Maybe, as you say, the apparent dearth of disc detail has something to do  with the fact that the  sun is low at this time of year, or maybe it's and effect of the solar minimum that's now ending.

This year I  replaced the ITF  ( the bottom filter above the prism box ), but with a Beloptik one not the original Meade. At first, I suspected that it might have been the new filter, but it isn't. By the way, anyone who needs to replace the ITF should consider the German filter. Oliver at Beloptik claims that it doesn't age.

 

[Merlin66]

Welcome to the bright side!

The PST is an ideal instrument for the novice. Easy to handle. easy to use.

There's a couple of decent sized sunspots currently visible:

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity.html

( there are two non- Meade suppliers of replacement ITF filters - Beloptic and Maier Photonics. Both are very good)

 

[Floater]

Good to hear you’re enjoying your solar viewing. I’m sure it will only get better.

I, too, lean slightly toward proms as my favourite feature on Sol but believe me when I say nothing is truly dull.

Have fun.

[PXR-5]

Glad you like it and saw proms right away

Mine should be here Wednesday

[Luke]

It's a shame solar scopes are so expensive! It took me a while to take the plunge, but even in cloudy UK skies it ended up getting so much use!

I've not owned a PST, but they look very compact and convenient and I have looked through a few and they gave beautiful views. Have fun!

[Neil H]

Silly question time what is PST ??????

[JamesF]

2 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Silly question time what is PST ??????

Pacific Standard Time :)  UTC-8, I believe.

James

[JamesF]

Or (more helpfully :) it's this: https://www.meade.com/coronado-personal-solar-telescope-pst.html

James

[Neil H]

Thanks James nice scope cheap for a HA scope 

[Highburymark]

Congratulations. Solar astronomy for me is the most absorbing part of the hobby. Being able to grab quick views is so useful for solar observing when skies may only be clear for a few minutes at a time, so your PST will be perfect for this. 

[Tommo200163]

On 28/12/2020 at 00:10, PXR-5 said:

Glad you like it and saw proms right away

Mine should be here Wednesday

Did your PST arrive as expected?  If so, have you had chance to try it?  

[Nigella Bryant]

Welcome to the bright side of Astronomical observation. My solar scope is the most used telescope I've got. Love solar observing/imaging especially as the sun is becoming more active now. Have fun.

[PXR-5]

1 hour ago, Tommo200163 said:

Did your PST arrive as expected?  If so, have you had chance to try it?  

Oh it's here, along with at least a week of clouds. 

So it just sits, I speak comforting words to it so it doesn't get depressed 😂

[newbie alert]

On 27/12/2020 at 16:24, Merlin said:

Surface detail does seem to have been in short supply, even though prominences have been, well, prominent.

Maybe, as you say, the apparent dearth of disc detail has something to do  with the fact that the  sun is low at this time of year, or maybe it's and effect of the solar minimum that's now ending.

This year I  replaced the ITF  ( the bottom filter above the prism box ), but with a Beloptik one not the original Meade. At first, I suspected that it might have been the new filter, but it isn't. By the way, anyone who needs to replace the ITF should consider the German filter. Oliver at Beloptik claims that it doesn't age.

 

The ITF, is that the only filter in a pst or is there another one?

I have a hunch that mine isn't the best 

[Peter Drew]

Technically there are 3 filters in a PST, the etalon followed by the ITF and finally the blocking filter.  All 3 are essential to its safe and correct performance.       🙂

[Merlin66]

Just to add some info:

The etalon and the final blocking/ sort filter are very robust and usually do not give any problems.

Unfortunately the Induced transmission filter (ITF) element in both the Coronado and Lunt solar scopes is prone to premature failure. As mentioned, 3rd party alternatives are now available from Beloptik and Maier.

 

[newbie alert]

14 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

Just to add some info:

The etalon and the final blocking/ sort filter are very robust and usually do not give any problems.

Unfortunately the Induced transmission filter (ITF) element in both the Coronado and Lunt solar scopes is prone to premature failure. As mentioned, 3rd party alternatives are now available from Beloptik and Maier.

 

Thanks

Are there any differences,  I've heard of Maier but never of beloptik.. 

[Merlin66]

They are both capable of doing the job, and seem to be far more robust than the original.

 

[Merlin]

Some PST's seem to be assembled in a hurry. It might just be that the etalon tuning ring isn't quite tuning to the full position. The solution to this is to unscrew the outer etalon ring to expose an inner ring that can be turned to a new ( clockwise? ) position when the screws in it are removed, then reassembled.

Please do not attempt this procedure without proper instruction.

[newbie alert]

I think it could be a possibility, it's the newer blue rather than orange lens type..the orange ones had rusting issues didn't they? I get a bit on banding on the image and it does seem like it could do with abit more. .. not had it out for a while now.. might give it a go tomorrow weather permitting 

[Merlin66]

The original PST had the ERF coating on the objective -a "gold" look.

This failed pretty quickly, and was replaced under warranty by the "Blue" objective and an internal ITF at the eyepiece holder.

I haven't seen any of the old "gold" objective PST for a while.

 

[Peter Drew]

To paraphrase an old saying, "There are old PST's and gold PST's but no old gold PST's"       🙂 

[Pete Presland]

I have very fond memories of 101940, my old PST. I found it very user friendly, no steep learning curve which i found with the Lunt50mm. I can only speak personally and say that my PST delivered results visually immediately.

[Highburymark]

15 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

I have very fond memories of 101940, my old PST. I found it very user friendly, no steep learning curve which i found with the Lunt50mm. I can only speak personally and say that my PST delivered results visually immediately.

I’ve not experienced a PST Pete, but there are some truly stunning images taken with them. Question - like everything else with solar - is whether you get a good one. Theoretically, the consistency should be greater the smaller the etalon. So it will be interesting to see how the new Lunt 40mm scope performs against the PST.