Solarscopes - are they worth the investment?

[rusirius]

I was thinking of purchasing a Coronado PST solarscope. I've been told though, that once the novelty wears off it will just end up gathering dust in the cupboard. Obviously £500 is a lot to invest for something that might only see minimum use. On the other hand I have seen comments that suggest that the Sun is dynamic and ever changing and is fascinating to watch.

I would like to hear from other Coronado PST owners as to whether they make regular use of their solarscope (UK weather permitting) or whether they have indeed found that the novelty soon wears off?

[Starman]

I've moved on from a Coronado PST now but when it was my main solar instrument I found its ease of set-up encouraged me to use it loads. The views of activity are compelling and it doesn't take a lot of persuading to become quite addicted to solar observing. £500 does seem a lot to spend on an instrument dedicated to observing one object only, but I'd say I definitely had my money's worth out of it.

Part of the enjoyment for me was trying to get images through a PST. It took a bit of effort to refine the techniques but before I upgraded to a larger instrument, I was getting some good results out of my bog-standard PST. Here's one of the last results I took with it...

[Tim]

If it would help, why not visit one of the star parties, where you will find solar scopes of all make and specification, and you will be able to have a good look at what you can see. Warning though, it does get addictive!

[tinvek]

i must admit i'm seriously tempted next year, apart from the actual interest in the sun im hoping that by having a solar scope will reverse the current trend of clear skies in daylight and cloud in the dark though i suspect i'll just end up with 24 / 7 cloud

[Mark at Beaufort]

I bought a PST to take to the Annular solar eclipse in Spain in 2005. The following year it went to Side, Turkey for the total eclipse - I was very popular with a large number of visitors.

Since that time it has been used on a regular basis (when the sun is visible!!) and has been used at 3 star parties and again it has been popular.

It is an excellent value for money product and I never regretted buying a solar scope.

Mark

[Macavity]

I was getting some good results out of my bog-standard PST. Here's one of the last results I took with it...

Wow - I must admit, I could look at that image for hours... Well, many minutes anyway!

Now I am almost tempted. <sigh>

[rusirius]

Starman, that's a nice image. Curious though as I have ben told that the Coronado PST won't come to focus with a camera attached and that one needs to go for one of the more expensive scopes to get images. Yet, here you have posted what looks like a detailed image.

Aside from the usual t mount, what kit would I need to use the Coronado with a Canon 350D camera?

[johninderby]

I had one and should never have let it go. It's surprising just how much you can see with it considering it's only a 40mm aperture. You won't regret getting one.

I'm getting a new one for Xmas but this time the PST will be used with an 80mm OTA. I managed to get hold of the PST long enough before it got wrapped up though to carry out the mods to the 80mm OTA (shortened 2") and build a cell to hold the Baader D-ERF. Here's a photo of it all assembled. The OTA is an Astro-Professional TMB 80mm F/11.25 achro. Pity they're discontinuing the scope as the TMB lens is so sharp and contrasty but apparently the lens is no longer available.

I'm looking forward to using it. What are the chances of it being sunny on Xmas day?

John

[Jamie]

In answer to your title question.....Yes they are IMHO worth the investment.....

If you compare what you can see with a solar scope, it out guns most night time scopes hands down.

For example you can look at the moon and planets and apart from shadows lunar phases and the od occultation they are pretty much the same every time you image/look at them (even though they are great to image/look at). Also when you look at deep sky objects there is little or no change at all.

The sun on the other hand is different to image/look at every day without exception, you have prominences that are never predictable or look the same twice over, there is activity on the surface which can change by the hour you can actually view solar flares that will cause Aurora on this planet, sunspots are also worth looking at and are liable to movement and change.......the list goes on.....

Oh and you are very rarely cold when viewing the sun

Need i say more?????

[Stardust]

I'd say there were a worth while investment, I've now double stacked mine and the detail in superb.

Starman - you say the pics were taken with a bog standard pst, what was the set up?

[rusirius]

I've now double stacked mine and the detail in superb.

Double stacked? What does this mean? What's involved?

[ollypenrice]

Yikes, Pete's images are incredible and could sell a million PSTs!

I don't have one but guests have brought them along on many occasions. The very expensive scopes do give more riveting views than the PST but you do see prominences and surface detail with them. In my case I think I'd lose interest somewhat if I didn't image with it.

Be aware that reliability is an issue. Anecdotally I hear from owners that a lot of them have to go back for repair. I also hear that the Meade takeover is supposed to have improved matters. I wonder what forum members have found?

Olly

[rusirius]

Yes, I have read somewhere about reliability issues and I was also wondering how well the Lunt's compare and whether there are any other similarly priced alternatives?

[johninderby]

First generation PSTs had reliability problems with the lens coatings (google PST rust) but the latest version with the blue lens seems to by very reliable indeed.

John

[Solar B]

Not any more im afraid John as the internal ERFs in the Newer

(and generally inferior) PSTs are now prone to rusting as well.

But in response to the question i do think they are worth it to,

and indeed it would be a good idea to try a few if possible,

it will normally take a while to discover what kind of solar views

suit you best as well e.g. i enjoy 0.5A or less views the most

but had to try various options including PST Mod,DS PST and

Lunts to discover that.

Brian

[johninderby]

Thanks for that info Brian.

When I had the brief chance to test the PST that I'm getting for Xmas it performed exceptionaly well. Both the best surface detail and prominences were at the same tuning setting. Markedly better than the PST I had a couple of years ago.

John

[rusirius]

I have a couple more questions:

1. I understand that 'surgery' is required to do prime focus imaging with a Coronado PST, but is it possible to do imaging via eyepiece projection?

2. I've been looking around and a Coronado SolarMax 70 has come up. How much difference in the views beween >1Å PST and 0.8Å SolarMax?

3. Double stacking appears to bring the bandwidth down to 0.5Å but at considerable additional cost. Again, how much difference really is there both visually and for imaging?

Does anyone have any images that might illustrate the difference?

[kev]

To answer part of your question double stacking essentially is fitting an extra filter in front of the existing filter, so its an add on. The aim is indeed to further reduce the bandwidth. By doing so it will bring out more of the disk detail, however at a slight price if you go too narrow in that prominences can be red/blue shifted occasionaly to outside the pass band.