Herschel wedge recommendations

[Carl Au]

I am going to buy a herschel wedge, hurrah! But which one, is a 2 inch worth the addional cost, weight etc any experinces or critisms most welcome...

[John]

What scope will you use it with ?

I have the Lunt 1.25 inch wedge and use it with my 100mm and 120mm refractors. I'm very happy with it.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by John

[johninderby]

The TS wedge is a best buy in 1.25” wedges and it comes with the TS equivalent of a continuum filter and a polarising filter. Had one and found it was very good. Now have the 2” Lacerta.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p9409_TS-Optics-1-25--Solar-Prism-with-Polarizing-and-Narrowband-Filter.html

Edited May 25, 2021 by johninderby

[TerryMcK]

I have the Altair Astro 2" Hershel wedge. It is really good, doesn't get hot and has both 2" and 1.25" adapters with threads for a continuum filter etc. It fits into 2" adapters on scope drawer tubes.

Edited May 25, 2021 by TerryMcK

[RT65CB-SWL]

+1 from another satisfied Lunt 1.25" user.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Philip R

[Stu]

As John says, which scope will you use it in? I think the 1.25” Lunts are hard to beat from a price/performance perspective. I use a Baader CoolWedge now and it does give better performance particularly at higher powers for fine detail, but i think the Lunt is a great place to start.

[Space Hopper]

I went for the Baader Planetarium version.

A bit expensive, but you get what you pay for with Baader.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-coolceramic-herschel-wedge-solar-diagonal.html

 

Also for me, the Baader system has the T2 compatibility, meaning its easily adaptable for bino-viewing.

And binoviewing the sun, like the moon, gives extra special views.

 

[IB20]

I have just purchased the 1.25” Lunt wedge for use with my 80mm F10 achromat. I’ve only had 2-3 quick sessions with it so far but I’m really happy with what I’ve experienced to date. There’s a nice sunspot currently which shows some fabulous detail. 

[wheresthetorch?]

Happy with my 1.25" Lunt on an f7.5 80mm achro.

[wookie1965]

I have just bought back a lunt herschel wedge from a very good friend to use on my Tal 100rs. 

[RT65CB-SWL]

In my earlier reply I said I was “…satisfied…” - and thinking about it, it is a bit misleading. For value and build quality, I cannot fault it.

My only gripe is that the image you are viewing is green when used with a solar continuum filter. I had been used to using a Thousand Oaks type 2+ glass full aperture prior to purchasing it and the image viewed is yellow/orange. I feel as if I have been “…Tango’d”…

for those that remember the advertisements and commercial breaks for a brand of soft drink during the 1980’s.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Philip R

[Stu]

8 hours ago, Philip R said:

In my earlier reply I said I was “…satisfied…” - and thinking about it, it is a bit misleading. For value and build quality, I cannot fault it.

My only gripe is that the image you are viewing is green when used with a solar continuum filter. I had been used to using a Thousand Oaks type 2+ glass full aperture prior to purchasing it and the image viewed is yellow/orange. I feel as if I have been “…Tango’d”…

for those that remember the advertisements and commercial breaks for a brand of soft drink during the 1980’s.

Worth it for the extra detail though?

[Carl Au]

Sorry for the late reply chaps. It's going in a 4 inch fl7.5 ED-R refractor, one of the United Optics numbers, mine's the Starwave from Altair, the one with the FLP 53 glass. 

So it looks like the 1.25 Lunt seems to have been well road tested so that's the one I'm gonna go for, thanks for your time gentlemen. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Carl Au

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Can't go wrong with the Lunt wedge. I also have it, and I am not going to change that any time soon

[bomberbaz]

19 hours ago, Stu said:

Baader CoolWedge

Bit pricy these stu, although I am always up for improved results if worth it. What's your overall take on this, do you feel it is worth the more than double price of the Lunt ?

[johninderby]

Had quite a few diffeent wedges. I found the Lunt and TS ones to be good “mid range” performers and great value for money. Had a CoolWedge and now have the Lacerta and hard to say which is better. Very similar results. Some find the angle of the Lacerta 2” off putting but in use I have zero problems with it. 

The Lacerta has a T2 thread on the top so you can fit any T2 eyepiece holder you want. Like the built in rotator that lets you rotate a polarising filter and not have to fit it to the eyepiece. I use a 1.25” filter to T2 adaptor to fit the continuum filter to the bottom of the T2 holder.

Edited May 26, 2021 by johninderby

[Stu]

6 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

Bit pricy these stu, although I am always up for improved results if worth it. What's your overall take on this, do you feel it is worth the more than double price of the Lunt ?

My personal view is that it’s about optimising the whole optical path. I see a number of people using Wedges in fast achros on the basis that with a Continuum filter it is narrowband and CA is not an issue. I think if you are making comparisons between Wedges in a scope like this you are unlikely to see the differences between Wedges because short focal ratio scopes inevitably suffer for more significant spherical abberation which can kill the fine detail. For me, the differences show up when you put an optimal system together, in my case my Tak, the Wedge, Baader Mark IV binoviewers and Zeiss Orthos. I saw clear differences between the Lunt 1.25” and the Baader CoolWedge in terms of visibility of granulation and detail on Active regions. Obviously differences are clearer when conditions are good, but it is rare for me not to see granulation and at times the detail is astounding (to my eyes anyway) at x200 you can really see the individual granulation cells (1 to 2 arc seconds across) and they change and evolve over relatively short time frames.

Now, whether that is worth the significant price difference varies by person, and I always suggest starting with the Lunt wedge because I believe it represents a really good balance of price and performance. A great place to work out if you enjoy solar or not, yet can still provide ongoing satisfaction.

[bomberbaz]

35 minutes ago, Stu said:

My personal view is that it’s about optimising the whole optical path. I see a number of people using Wedges in fast achros on the basis that with a Continuum filter it is narrowband and CA is not an issue. I think if you are making comparisons between Wedges in a scope like this you are unlikely to see the differences between Wedges because short focal ratio scopes inevitably suffer for more significant spherical abberation which can kill the fine detail. For me, the differences show up when you put an optimal system together, in my case my Tak, the Wedge, Baader Mark IV binoviewers and Zeiss Orthos. I saw clear differences between the Lunt 1.25” and the Baader CoolWedge in terms of visibility of granulation and detail on Active regions. Obviously differences are clearer when conditions are good, but it is rare for me not to see granulation and at times the detail is astounding (to my eyes anyway) at x200 you can really see the individual granulation cells (1 to 2 arc seconds across) and they change and evolve over relatively short time frames.

Now, whether that is worth the significant price difference varies by person, and I always suggest starting with the Lunt wedge because I believe it represents a really good balance of price and performance. A great place to work out if you enjoy solar or not, yet can still provide ongoing satisfaction.

Some good points there stu, I am going to try using my binoviewers again next time I do WL with the lunt and newly acquired ED 100, see if my results improve which I am confident they will.

cheers 👍

[Stu]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

Some good points there stu, I am going to try using my binoviewers again next time I do WL with the lunt and newly acquired ED 100, see if my results improve which I am confident they will.

cheers 👍

I do find binoviewers really help with both white light and Ha solar. Hence my Avatar 🤣🤣

[Pete Presland]

+1 for the Lunt as well, been using in on my evostar 120mm its been fine. It has not got particularly hot even longish sessions. I do fancy one of those Ceramic cool versions though 🙂  and the solar continuum filter is a must, of course only in my opinion.

[StuartT]

I have the Lunt 1.25" on a 90mm achro and it works really nicely. I also use a Baader continuum filter.

For larger apertures they recommend the 2" version (presumably you would get a LOT more heat building up with a 150mm)

[Stu]

40 minutes ago, StuartT said:

I have the Lunt 1.25" on a 90mm achro and it works really nicely. I also use a Baader continuum filter.

For larger apertures they recommend the 2" version (presumably you would get a LOT more heat building up with a 150mm)

There has been a lot of discussion about this on the forum before, see this thread.

My personal opinion is that the 1.25” is fine up to 120mm, although there are reports of them being used in up to 10”!

The heat sinks are designed to get hot, that’s why they have the warning on them, and I think in the U.K. we are pretty safe, though it is worth being more cautious in hotter climes.

[StuartT]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

There has been a lot of discussion about this on the forum before, see this thread.

My personal opinion is that the 1.25” is fine up to 120mm, although there are reports of them being used in up to 10”!

The heat sinks are designed to get hot, that’s why they have the warning on them, and I think in the U.K. we are pretty safe, though it is worth being more cautious in hotter climes.

Thanks for sharing this thread Stu. So just to be clear, even a 150mm refractor would potentially be ok with a 1.25" wedge? i.e. without any objective filter on it? Are objective filters ever necessary on refractors? I guess I am just worried about heating up the tube with so much aperture, but maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily

[Alien 13]

4 minutes ago, StuartT said:

Thanks for sharing this thread Stu. So just to be clear, even a 150mm refractor would potentially be ok with a 1.25" wedge? i.e. without any objective filter on it? Are objective filters ever necessary on refractors? I guess I am just worried about heating up the tube with so much aperture, but maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily

I expect the large amount of heat from a 150mm frac directed towards the focusser end could potentially cause problems if there were any plastic parts Inside or indeed the grease itself might run but people seem to manage OK..

Alan

[TerryMcK]

My Altair Astro 2" solar wedge is ok up to 7" (175mm) apertures according to the manufacturers specs. They also go to state "The Altair Solar Wedge has been fully tested with the sun remaining in the centre of the field of view for 5 hours of continual exposure with a 6" (152mm) aperture refractor in mid-summer in the UK. At no point did the outer prism housing become too hot to touch, a problem common with other wedges. Whilst we cannot recommend use with telescopes of larger than 6 (152mm) aperture for longer or shorter duration, if your telescope is larger, then we suggest trying the wedge for a short time initially, to assess the heat build-up and make your own informed decision."

I use mine on my WO ZS73 and have left it pointing at the sun for hours and the wedge never gets too hot to touch. The OTA has never got hot either.