Lunt 60 Finally Here!

[Sunshine]

It’s a beauty! can’t wait to get it out tomorrow for first light, well actually first light will be tonight in night mode but does that count for a solar scope? I’m not sure lol.

[JeremyS]

Wonderful- congratulations!

[Pete Presland]

Very nice scope, looking forward to hearing how it goes 🙂 

[maw lod qan]

They must have got the addresses mixed up! 🤔

It should have been, purchased by, your's.

Ship to, mine!😁

That is a beautiful piece of equipment!

Keep us posted on how great it is!

[jetstream]

@Sunshine Congrats!  I should have bought one of these instead of the Quirk, - eagerly waiting reports!!!

[Highburymark]

Lovely scope! Congratulations. 

[Carbon Brush]

Looking forward to your reports. I have the older daylight only model.

[Sunshine]

10 hours ago, Carbon Brush said:

Looking forward to your reports. I have the older daylight only model.

Thats the one I had about five years ago, I bought it used tilt tuned then i had it sent to Lunt for pressure tune retrofit and sold it a year later, lesson learned.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Sunshine

[Highburymark]

The new focuser looks like a big improvement from earlier models. That old GSO Crayford was ok if not too stressed, but not great under heavy loads. Also - as the base scope has moved from using a singlet objective lens to an ED doublet, I wonder if you can push the magnification higher than the old LS60 when seeing allows? I seem to remember about 60-70x was the normal before - worth trying the new scope at 90-100x on a bright prominence when you get the chance.

[Sunshine]

On 12/04/2023 at 05:10, Highburymark said:

The new focuser looks like a big improvement from earlier models. That old GSO Crayford was ok if not too stressed, but not great under heavy loads. Also - as the base scope has moved from using a singlet objective lens to an ED doublet, I wonder if you can push the magnification higher than the old LS60 when seeing allows? I seem to remember about 60-70x was the normal before - worth trying the new scope at 90-100x on a bright prominence when you get the chance.

Good point about trying higher power with these new ED doublets, i tried out my 5mm XO  (85x) while focusing on one particularly bright prom and even though the sun was only half an hour to setting I was impressed with the sharpness.

[Highburymark]

On 15/04/2023 at 02:15, Sunshine said:

Good point about trying higher power with these new ED doublets, i tried out my 5mm XO  (85x) while focusing on one particularly bright prom and even though the sun was only half an hour to setting I was impressed with the sharpness.

I have an XO5 too - haven’t thought about using it for solar as I mostly binoview, but I shall give it a go next time the clouds part - so around July 2030 then……

[Rusted]

Congratulations!

The R&P focuser is fine on these.
Made by Feather Touch/Skylight Instruments?
The whole telescope oozes quality.
Clever, modular design provides multiple options.
Though the overall weight is quite a shock.
Lunt must be making quite a few.
Judging by the serial numbers.

[Highburymark]

Yep - the build quality of Lunts is remarkable. Very solid pieces of kit. A joy to own and use. The only thing letting the old LS60 down was that so-so focuser.

[Sunshine]

On 17/04/2023 at 02:42, Rusted said:

Congratulations!

The R&P focuser is fine on these.
Made by Feather Touch/Skylight Instruments?
The whole telescope oozes quality.
Clever, modular design provides multiple options.
Though the overall weight is quite a shock.
Lunt must be making quite a few.
Judging by the serial numbers.

Not sure who makes the focuser but it is buttery smooth and finely adjustable according to ones preferences. You are correct when it comes to the weight, it is heavy! for a relatively small scope, so much so that it is quite surprising, actually. It can double as a weapon should a thug ever break into my home lol, solid aluminum. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Sunshine

[Rusted]

No, no, no! You want an f:15 refractor to use as "proper" baseball bat.
A 75-80mm should do it. No need for an APO.

[andre2]

Hi, "sunshine" that's already one year ago. May I ask you an short update how good the PT etalon works and the useful magnification? And where you are using the telescope... at the fields or at home?  Thanks.  ( I always viewing near my home and using a Svbony 10-30 zoom eyepiece. The image seems a little bigger to me compared to normal eyepieces and generally I need more patience for the prominences then for the surface detail. Maybe this is normal for a (tilt) 60 telescope? Never seen spicules. This one is made in 2017 , so it's probably not one of these older, " very good " models with their better built etalons or whatever the thing is...).  Andre.

Edited Wednesday at 11:20 by andre2

[saac]

That is a beautiful piece of well engineered astro happiness. Enjoy. 

Jim 

[Sunshine]

On 28/05/2024 at 17:11, andre2 said:

Hi, "sunshine" that's already one year ago. May I ask you an short update how good the PT etalon works and the useful magnification? And where you are using the telescope... at the fields or at home?  Thanks.  ( I always viewing near my home and using a Svbony 10-30 zoom eyepiece. The image seems a little bigger to me compared to normal eyepieces and generally I need more patience for the prominences then for the surface detail. Maybe this is normal for a (tilt) 60 telescope? Never seen spicules. This one is made in 2017 , so it's probably not one of these older, " very good " models with their better built etalons or whatever the thing is...).  Andre.

It has been a year! thanks for asking and I must say that I am delighted with all aspects of the scope. This Lunt 60 is not my first, I did own an old tilt tuned model which was nine years old when I bought it about five years ago. Regarding the pressure tuner, I did have that old tilt tuned model retrofitted to pressure tuned as I was not convinced the tilt tuner was either working, or if it was working it did not affect much change which I found to be anticlimactic. Once I sent it off to lunt for a PS retrofit it came back a totally different scope. Turning the pressure tuner was a joy to use as it would unmistakably reveal different features. If your tilt tuner allows for visible changes in what you are able to see then I would assume it os doing it’s job, my tilt tuner must have been broken. If you’re wondering why I purchased a second Lunt60 telescope in just five years? because Im an amateur astronomer and we are known to do remarkably daft things like selling scopes we enjoy only to regret it later.
 

Clear Skies! and feel free to ask more questions if you like.

Edited Wednesday at 23:35 by Sunshine

[andre2]

Nice to hear that you are happy with the new Scope! I don't know much about the tilt tuning either. I rarely use it because it's difficult to see how the features are changing. It is said that it just need a small degree of tilting. It's dull, but simple and Ok. And there it ends. That's probably the nature of the tilt. With the PT you can do more things and is more fun to play with. The downside is that it is stiff and has some weight on it. So you probably need a more stable tripod . But the advances are probably greater then the disadvantage which may  justify the switch. I can also buy the MT without the BF....and sell the tilt without the BF. I will think about it, thanks. 🤔

 

 

Edited Thursday at 18:08 by andre2