Lunt 60Ha B1200 First Light

[johninderby]

My new Lunt 60HA B1200 solar scope finally arrived at noon on Tuesday, and defying the laws of nature the sun was out as well, so I got to try it out just a few minutes after it arrived !

Using a Pentax XF zoom set to about 10mm the surface detail was excellent with plenty of granulation and the plage regions around the limited number of active sunspots really stood out. The best thing though was the prominence detail, as there were some really good proms that were very bright and sharply defined. Also I didn't notice any "sweet" spot, just a sharply defined image right across the solar disc. Overall miles better than the old PST. I had expected the Lunt to be a lot better but not this much better.

I tried a Nagler and a Baader ortho, but the Pentax 6.5mm - 19.5mm XF 1.25" zoom performed as well as any of them, so it's going to left permanently in the LUNT. It's a small and lightweight zoom that seems particularly well suited to solar observing with exceptional sharpness and contrast and a useful magnification range. While using it for nighttime observing it's very good, but not quite as good as the Naglers. Going by past experience I'd rate it as better than the Hyperion zoom for solar use but for nighttime use they are about tied.

The Lunt 60 makes a nice companion to the 70ED APO that I'm using with a Herschel wedge for white light solar observing (great little travel scope as well !). Both are about the same compact size and very portable. I will also be using the Lunt with a Nexstar 6SE mount.

So very impressed so far and looking forward to the Sun reappearing one of these weeks.

John

[Merlin66]

Sounds Good!

I'm pleased to hear from a Lunt user on the forum.

Do you intend doing any imaging with it???

Ken

[johninderby]

The NexStar 6SE Alt-Az mount will be good enough for some solar imaging so I suppose I'll have to try a bit. That is if the Sun cooperates

Fortunately I got the B1200 so it should have some potential.

John

[A McEwan]

I too have the B1200 model. Had some great views last year with it, including watching an active region developing in real time. Lovely piece of equipment to use too. Nice First Light!

Ant