Coronado PST 1st light

[John]

This is not a review at all really, just a few notes on my new (to me) Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) which arrived on Thursday - in the middle of a torrential downpour

And the rain continued on Friday ........ and for some of Saturday (today) as well ...... but in the late afternoon I managed to grab 20 mins clear viewing of the Sun, before it sank behind the large chestnut trees across the road.

Prior to this I'd just had a couple of glimpses through PST's at the SGL Star Party in 2009. That was enough to get one of these devices onto my "wanted" list though

I've mounted my PST onto an AZ-3 mount which has slow motion controls on both axis. I needed to cobble together a device to connect the photo tripod socket on the base of the PST to the mounting plate of the AZ-3 so I used an old photo tripod head - it seems to support the lightweight PST pretty well as far as I can see.

At some point in the near future I'm going to add an eyepiece shade of some sort but for this short session my cupped hand did that job.

I'd purchased a Hyperion 8mm-24mm zoom eyepiece to use with the PST as one of those I'd tried at the star party was fitted with one of these and it seemed a rather neat and effective setup to me. The only issue was that the wide base of the Hyperion Zoom snagged on the nylon locking screw on the PST eyepiece drawtube so I've replaced that with a lower profile screw that I had lying around.

My first impressions of H-alpha solar viewing are exceedingly good

Once I'd realised that the focus adjustment of the PST works in the opposite way than intuition suggests, I achieved sharp focus of the solar disk with the zoom at the 20mm (20x) setting. This showed a bright cherry-red solar disk with lots of dark sky framing it - the FoV was around 2.75 degrees. By using the fine tuning ring to adjust the Etalon filter (I assume this is what it does) I could find the spot where the finest details were showing. I then zoomed to 8mm (50x) for a more detailed view - and what a view it was !.

As my eye adjusted to the H-alpha view (I'd read that the eye does need to "tune" itself in to the view that a PST gives) I could straight away make out a number of prominences extending from the edge of the solar disk - some simple thin streamers, others complex, arched structures looping around to seemingly re-join the surface again - amazing

At the 20mm eyepiece setting and with the solar disk centrally positioned in the PST's "sweet spot" I counted 14 prominences of various shapes and sizes - and I thought I'd be lucky to see one or two !.

By adjusting the focus and tuning carefully and as my eye adjusted itself, I could see the "orange peel" texture of the solar disk and what I believe is known as an active region showing what looked like brighter material welling through fissures and a long, thin darker tendril - known a filament - snaking across this part of the disk. I was surprised how much detail was visible, especially as the sun was quite low in the sky. Like many other astronomical objects, the more I looked, the more I saw and it seemed no time at all before the chestnut tree branches intervened and I had to reluctantly call it a day.

I'm so pleased that the setup - PST and eyepiece - worked so well and that even a short session could deliver such rewarding details. Needless to see I can't wait until tomorrow

Here is a photo of the lovely little thing, ready for it's next session:

[Jamie]

Hi John

Glad to hear that we have another convert to the HA solar side.....

You are going to have so much pleasure from this bit of kit....More than you realize...

[Helen]

Welcome to the light side John. My solar kit gets loads more use than the night time stuff. As you've found, even short breaks between clouds are useful, and the detail changes constantly.

Enjoy!

Helen

[geoff_k]

They are pretty amazing and the detail you can see in such a small aperture is surprising and endlessly fascinating as things change so much even as you watch.

I bought one a little while back but as is often the case, I haven't used it as much as I intended.

I hope to do much more in the spring as my location means that the Sun is not best placed at this time of the year and I have too many local obstructions (buildings, trees, etc)

Tried some imaging as well but need some more work on that.

Geoff

[John]

...... my location means that the Sun is not best placed at this time of the year and I have too many local obstructions (buildings, trees, etc).....

I have those problems as well Geoff - at least the PST is really portable

[Mark at Beaufort]

Hello John. You will never regret buying your PST. As you know we have the same setup - AZ3, Hyperion Zoom etc which I think works very well.

So easy to set up and I try to use it must days when we have some Sun.

Mark

[Kef9]

I might get one of these one day. Need to do alot of reading up though first.

I thought the image was black and white. Obviously im wrong on that score.

Anyway I'm glad you like it!

[Andrew*]

Very nice report John - welcome to solar observing!

You picked a great day to start observing - the bright material you saw in the active region was a solar flare - apparently one of the brightest in years. If you can still get out before the sun goes down, there are some quite extraordinary prominences off that limb.

Andrew

[John]

...You picked a great day to start observing - the bright material you saw in the active region was a solar flare - apparently one of the brightest in years. If you can still get out before the sun goes down, there are some quite extraordinary prominences off that limb.

Andrew

I managed a short session around noon today and there were some complex prominences off the limb adjacent to the active region, as you say Andrew.

It's remarkable but you really get the feel, under H-alpha light, that you are gazing at a raging inferno - maybe it's not actually moving noticeably while you watch but it certainly feels as if the chromosphere is bubbling and boiling and the prominences are blasting off into space - slightly scary !.

[Macavity]

Thanks for the great review, John - The view sounds pretty similar to mine. <G> Nice to know these things are fairly consistent, out of the box? I need to give it much more time and practice! One general query (I may not yet commit!) is re. the "sweet spot". How is this supposed to manifest? Is it a percentage of AFoV (view size) or TFoV (the solar disk)...

It seems, superficially, the controls interact - It takes a while to get one's "eye in" too? Maybe the PST needs "warm up" as well? As another "what's supposed to happen" question(!): I wondered whether the optimal views of surface features should appear as the SAME Etalon setting as Prominences?

Overall, I found settings less "crucial" and more accommodating than anticipated. Of course (and maybe someone will remind me?) I'm none too discerning? I do sense my eyesight sight / acuity is not as good as many though...

P.S. Wish I still had a zoom eyepiece now. I shelled on some (TS) planetary HR's for the PST - I do prefer the AFoV and eye-relief. I am pleased they seem (about) as good as short focus Hyperions in this application... A lot lighter, anyway.

[Andrew*]

Chris,

The sweet spot is usually a little smaller than the full solar disc. That means at high power the whole image is "sweet".

The etalon does not need to be retuned for prominences/surface with teh PST. On some scopes with a lower bandpass, the fast-moving features (eruptive prominences/filaments) blue-shift, so need a slight re-tune, but the PST has a relatively wide bandpass. Still, sometimes a feature will blue-shift outside the PSTs bandpass.

Andrew

[Astro_Baby]

I've had a sort of interest in getting one of these but I wonder if the thrill might be very shortlived. I'm also worried that it might get addictive and solar gear is so freaking expensive

[Macavity]

Ah - Thanks Andrew! Probably explains quite a lot. I sense I may have been a little unkind re. the default 20mm (Kelner?) - What I thought was eyepiece field curvature (whatever) may have been sweet spot! Using an 8mm HR, I found "much" of the view was good - Idem re. surface and prominences. I use the scope OK even with a 6mm (as per the S@N review) - The Sun's disk (almost?) still "fits"! But perhaps my tendancy to "overpower" things reduces my eye astigmatism etc.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I've had a sort of interest in getting one of these but I wonder if the thrill might be very shortlived. I'm also worried that it might get addictive and solar gear is so freaking expensive

Mel I bought my PST for the Annular eclipse in Spain in 2005 and since then I have never been bored viewing the Sun. If I get daytime clear periods I usually view the Sun to check out the features.

I have viewed the Sun through a Lunt, A better Coronado scope, Jamie's double PST and Nick Howes modified Vixen - all fantastic

Happy to stay with the PST and its easy setup.

Mark

[John]

Very early days for me with this but, so far, I've found that the tuner ring only seems to have a noticable impact towards the extremes of it's range of travel when the prominences faded from view. I did have to carefully focus but with the zoom you can focus at high power then zoom out and it seems to stay pretty sharp. I did notice the "sweet spot" in that I could get the whole of the solar disk sharply defined with prominences showing all around the disk at 20mm / 20x but at 8mm / 50x I needed to pan the FoV across the disk to bring out the finest details.

I understand where you are coming from Astro_Baby and of course the PST is very much a "one trick pony". It's a pretty neat trick though

And I do like the fact that you can sit in a deckchair in the sunshine with a beer / coffee on hand as you soak up in the solar sights

[russ]

Sounds awesome John. You sound over the moon (or sun) with the views. Everything you hoped.

After a tight battle on Ebay, i pick mine up tomorrow.

[Astro_Baby]

sheesh - you guys arent making it easy for me to resist are you ?

[John]

Sounds awesome John. You sound over the moon (or sun) with the views. Everything you hoped.

After a tight battle on Ebay, i pick mine up tomorrow.

Cool Russ

I think I saw that one go on just after I'd made a firm offer on mine - it looked a nice one

[Merlin66]

To answer the earlier question re black and white images....

Visually the solar disk/ proms look red....deep red

There is only one colour involved in H alpha solar imaging - Red

For maximum contrast and resolution most solar imager use a mono (Black and white) camera hence a lot of the images displayed are B&W.

For "presentation" the images can be false coloured - gold, orange, yellow etc in the processing.

[russ]

Cool Russ

I think I saw that one go on just after I'd made a firm offer on mine - it looked a nice one

It certainly does and only just down the road too.

Great report John, wonderful description of what you saw. I took a look through one at the Salisbury SP and just knew it was time for a PST. The were a couple of 60mm Solarscopes there and they did spoil you somewhat but the PST far from disgraced itself.

[russ]

sheesh - you guys arent making it easy for me to resist are you ?

Go on Mel, you know you want one

[John]

I've just found the downside to the PST

I work from home a lot and the PST sits in the corner of the room I work in, on it's mount, with the eyepiece in the drawtube. The sun is shining onto the patio just through the french doors in front of me ......... its taking a will of iron not to get distracted from work

But I'm far too professional to give in of course

[russ]

So how's the sun looking today John?

[John]

So how's the sun looking today John?

I really wouldn't know Russ

And I shouldn't be posting on here either

[russ]

Have you not had a lunch break yet? And don't forget you should take a 10min break from the screen every so often.