HA Solar where to start with low budget

[skippyinspace]

Started looking at this  about 7 years ago and stopped due to cost. Have now atarted looking again. And items like the daystar, PST and some cheap Lunts have disappeared.

So was wondering what you should be looking for in a entry level HA scope and what is an acceptable cost, plan is  to image using a ZWO ASI120 colour camera.

Thanks Ian

 

 

[niallk]

Hi, I can't comment about anything re suitability for imaging - I'm strictly visual, but I watched out for a 'customer return' of a LS50 on FLO's site, and pounced when I saw one come up.  Couple of hundred off, full warranty, and assurance that it was tested and all was well with the scope before purchasing: and indeed it is 😉

Yeah, Ha is damn expensive!!

[newbie alert]

Anything solar is expensive but if you look out for a used PST, or a lunt 35.. if you're looking to image maybe a used quark can be used with a frac of say 80mm without any more blocking filters... Sadly nothing is cheap atm and people are hanging onto their kit because new is fairly difficult to get hold of..not sure of your budget but Daystar do a 60 mm for £895

I'd say that's more or less what a new PST is..

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/daystar-solar-h-alpha-telescopes/daystar-solar-scout-ss60-ds-60mm-h-alpha-solar-telescope.html

[Merlin]

I have two PSTs. One was bought new and a second one was bought at a Cash Generator-type shop for £300. I did a stage 1 mod using the latter one by marrying it to a Skylux 70mm/f.10 refractor.

[Elp]

Coronado PST may be your "cheapest" option though it's designed as a visual scope but people image successfully with them. Their etalons (as in all solar equipment) do vary a lot in terms of quality and what you're able to see. PSTs regularly come up for sale around the £400-£500 mark, if you're dead set on one look for one which is over 100k serial number, as these have the newer design blue coloured front objective lens (not the original gold type one which is prone to the "rust" effect (metallic compounds within the lens coating being oxidised I believe) as it affects visual quality) and ensure the blue/green coloured ITF filter contained at the bottom of the eyepiece cylinder section is clear (no yellowish mould/pitting/clouding) though this point isn't a deal breaker as they can be sourced and replaced easily at a decent price. If you want even more contrast from the default 1 angstrom you can also try and find a double stack module which will fit on the front objective and give you 0.5 angstrom of filtering offering more fine details.

You can always do a PST mod 1 or 2 and repurpose the filter train to use with another traditional refractor setup though DERF filters required for 100mm plus refractors can be expensive.

Quarks offer excellent viewing and have the benefit of being able to be used with any refractor (rather than having a specific scope just for solar), their quality is also questionable in that it's a bit of a lottery whether you'll get a good one, they are also powered unlike a mechanical PST or Lunt. The chromosphere model is generally the one you want over the prominence one. Daystar also do an "affordable" scope with a quark built in the Solar Scout.

I don't have experience of Lunts but they are highly regarded for a reason, the people behind it I believe used to work at Coronado before Coronado stopped trading (as it was eventually acquired). They obviously have their associated high cost of entry.

As a general rule, the larger the aperture of the scope the more resolution or fine detail you'll see.

One point I'd like to add, though it's possible to use a 120mc, I believe the 120 suffers from the Newtonian ring effect which creates band artifacts across any solar images, it can be rectified via tilt or flats though I'm not 100%, I've tried with a 224mc, no artifacts but have struggled to achieve focus with a PST even though I know it is possible. Most solar images are done with mono cameras as they will pick up greater detail, also the longer your focal length the more likely you'll have to take mosaics for full disk, the PST is 400mm FL so can achieve full disk views depending on what camera/Barlow lens combo you use with it.

[Pete Presland]

A 2nd hand PST,DMK21au618 was my first venture into H/A imaging. I would bet it would still be the cheapest entry into H/A imaging.  I still have the DMK, never had any real problems with newtons rings, i did have to get the nose piece shortened to achieve focus though.

[Mandy D]

What does everyone think of the Daystar Solar Scout? I have one, but have never yet been able to tune it to see any detail.

[Carbon Brush]

Another vote for a used Coronado PST. I had a lot of happy views before moving on.
A simple take outside, point and look. Just set the focus and rotate the etalon adjustment.
These comments have been repeated by the new owner. Yes I had the confidence to sell it to someone I regularly see.

There were a lot of quality and performance issues with Daystar a couple or three years ago.
When I asked various sellers at a show (2019 from memory) I couldn't get any straight answers about why I should spend >£1K with them on Daystar.
It completely put me off their products.

I now have a Lunt LS60 - and very little money!
Very pleased with the views.

HTH, David.

 

[iwols]

same problem here loking at a daystar ds 60 lunt 40 or lunt 50 for imaging but not sure which button to press so pressing none at the minute ,watching this thread with interest

Edited May 10, 2022 by iwols

[Elp]

2 hours ago, Mandy D said:

What does everyone think of the Daystar Solar Scout? I have one, but have never yet been able to tune it to see any detail.

Never used one but I have their quark. Have you started with the tuning in the middle? If it's anything like a Coronado PST which I think it is you'll either shift the bandpass to be able to see prominences clearly or surface detail/sunspots, not both at the same time (though the quark does display more broadly than the PST). I also find you have to look for a few minutes unbroken and let your eyes adapt to the brightness and concentrate your vision on a particular detail. Make sure your head is covered and not able to see sunlight diffuse reflection from around the telescope or the ground (just like night viewing and blocking stray light at the eyepiece).

[Mandy D]

4 minutes ago, Elp said:

Never used one but I have their quark. Have you started with the tuning in the middle? If it's anything like a Coronado PST which I think it is you'll either shift the bandpass to be able to see prominences clearly or surface detail/sunspots, not both at the same time (though the quark does display more broadly than the PST). I also find you have to look for a few minutes unbroken and let your eyes adapt to the brightness and concentrate your vision on a particular detail. Make sure your head is covered and not able to see sunlight diffuse reflection from around the telescope or the ground (just like night viewing and blocking stray light at the eyepiece).

Yes, you shift the bandpass to see one detail or the other. Maybe I need to get a new Supergirl cape made from Kryptonium to keep the light away from my eyes. Next time I get this thing set up, I'll try this and spend more time at the eyepiece. Thank you.

[Nigella Bryant]

I'd be looking at the second hand market personally, I did when getting my Lunt 60mm double stack. PST are hard to reach focus for imaging, I couldn't get enough InFocus when I had one years ago. I much preferred the Lunt 35mm now replaced with the Lunt 40mm. Have you considered a Lunt CaK module to start with. You can see surface details and prom's in calcium ii k, you can use it with any cheaper aromatic scope up to 100mm. Personally if you go that root it's best to go for a 120mm aromatic and stop it down to the 100mm. 

[Ags]

2 hours ago, Mandy D said:

Yes, you shift the bandpass to see one detail or the other. Maybe I need to get a new Supergirl cape made from Kryptonium to keep the light away from my eyes. Next time I get this thing set up, I'll try this and spend more time at the eyepiece. Thank you.

I am pretty pleased with my Scout. I got it just before the price rise, so even more pleased because of that. Surface detail is subtle - I don't know how it might look in another scope, but I think the human eye does struggle a little with distinguishing deep shades of red anyway. But I can see sunspots and plages and swirls and mottling. The scope shines with showing off prominences and filaments however. It took a while to find the right tuning setting - this required methodically photographing at each setting and comparing the images. What also helps is stopping down the aperture as quarks work better at f30 than f15.5. I typically stop down to 43 mm (f22) aperture using some cheap dslr step-down rings.  I have posted a few pictures from the Scout on the forum; I am very happy with the photographic performance.

Visually, I have found as little magnification as possible is best - usually a 30 mm eyepiece, although sometimes I enjoy a 25 mm or 20 mm more.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Ags

[vlaiv]

For purely imaging - I guess the cheapest option is actually DIY - spectroheliograph.

Look here for example (and build and operation details):

http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/sol-ex-presentation-en.html

For "no fuss" visual and photo - take a look at Lunt 40mm.

This has front mounted etalon (no sweet spots), very decent F/ratio - F/10 (which is good for ~3.3um pixel size). Very affordable Ha scope.

For best flexibility - Quark combo, 4" F/10 achromat, x2 and x3 telecentric and aperture masks to tune F/ratio of system for different focal lengths. This setup will enable you all - whole disk, medium and high magnifications.

[Mandy D]

8 minutes ago, Ags said:

Surface detail is subtle - I don't know how it might look in another scope, but I think the human eye does struggle a little with distinguishing deep shades of red anyway. But I can see sunspots and plages and swirls and mottling. The scope shines with showing off prominences and filaments however. It took a while to find the right tuning setting - this required methodically photographing at each setting and comparing the images. What also helps is stopping down the aperture as quarks work better at f30 than f15.5. I typically stop down to 43 mm (f22) aperture using some cheap dslr step-down rings.  I have posted a few pictures from the Scout on the forum; I am very happy with the photographic performance.

Thank you! I've managed to get sunspots as you can see in my photo. It's always been the other stuff which requires tuning of the filter that has been the problem. I'm never sure when it is in focus. I'll definitely try stopping it down, now. I've seen surface detail and prominences through a Lundt, so expected this to be similar, but maybe it is not. I just need to find my USB battery pack, which I've not seen in months!

[ArmyAirForce]

I bought a single stack Lunt LS50THa B600 in 2015. The pressure tuner failed fairly quickly and the whole scope was replaced by Lunt. I use a ZWO ASI120MM-S camera on it with a home made tilt adapter to prevent Newton Rings. I use it at the native 350mm focal length and with a x2 barlow giving 700mm. I'm always wanting more detail, but can't justify the cost to myself. Here's a selection of pictures between 2015 and now. The full disc just fits on the ASI120MM-S sensor.