Solar scope suggestions

[Jose Urias]

Good afternoon HAL,

I would like to request for the expertise and opinions of HAL’s solar observer’s/imagers.

I have been playing with the Coronado PST I got as a donation early this year and I am really enjoying solar observing and I am playing with imaging as well. I got the opportunity to acquire a more robust Ha dedicated solar scope after selling my Vespera and redcat, and I am debating between a Lunt 80 which I could only get single stacked for now but I like that it looks well built and I can add the second etalon in the future and even Calcium K and while light modules in the future. The other option is the Sky Watcher Heliostar 76Ha, which looks fantastic in paper, but I cannot help but feel like it doesn’t look as durable and I want it to be a one time purchase as this is not a part of the hobby that sees much variation and it is expensive as it is.

I talked to Phill already and he is very into the Lunts, I just want to see if anyone else here has the same experience or if someone has a Heliostar and has a good opinion on it, I am happy to hear about it as well.

I appreciate any input on this.

[A. Michael Phipps]

Sounds like we lost Jose to the "Light Side".  

Apologize in advance for the dumb joke. but I could not resist.  

Mike

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[Dale Ghent]

To add another player to the more budget-side realm, Sky-Watcher (Synta's consumer brand) has just released a small series of Ha solar scopes.

Where Daystar filters use heating to bring them on-band, and Lunts use air pressure to accomplish the same, the Sky-Watchers use physical compression of the etalon to bring a certain portion of the field of view on-band. There is a silver sliding lever about half-way up the OTA that one manipulates to adjust the scope.

Sky-Watcher had a few of these set up at NEAF's solar star party this past weekend and the views were compelling. Good amount of contrast to clearly see proms and surface detail. You would still get a larger area of on-band contrast with a Lunt or Daystar - basically the whole FOV - but I think this Sky-Watcher offering is a good mix of high-magnification and contrast for the price. Worth looking into if you don't want high-end, full-FOV.

-Dale

[Jose Urias]

Hi Dale!

Thank you for your insight! 

I would like to get something that is in the high end and that’s why I was considering the Lunt scopes because it seems like they can be upgraded over time. I could technically get it double stacked now but I figured if I can save some money and upgrade it later, that is fine too. 

I saw the Sky watcher Heliostar 100 announcement but that is way out of my budget. The images taken by the 76mm one are really good, but I do t know why I feel it looks more “breakable” and less upgradeable. I am still considering it though but I want to make sure I will get something that will last me 15 years.

[hymie!]

Maybe Company 7 has both and you can test them out?

I own a Lunt 60 (not the 80), and I love it. I have the double-stack filter.

I got to use a SkyWatcher Heliostar 76Ha this past weekend. It was
a beautiful view. Crisp and crystal clear.

Sadly, I could not directly compare the Lunt and the SkyWatcher to
see which view was better.

From what I was told, the SkyWatcher is always double-stacked. With
my Lunt, sometimes I will single-stack to get a brighter sharper view
of the prominences, and sometimes I will double-stack to get the
sharper solar disk detail. (That could be a function of my inability to
tune it correctly) With the SkyWatcher, I don't think you get that
option to remove the double-stack ... but I'm not sure you need it either.

Again, I couldn't compare the two directly. I think either one is a
sound purchase.

I'm not sure that helped much.

SkyWatcher will soon be introducing a Heliostar 100 Ha. Honestly, for
the price difference from the 76Ha to the 100Ha, I don't think the view
was all that much better.

--Eric B. Hymowitz

[David Glasser]

Jose, I too have the 60 mm Lunt with the pressure-tuned etalon and usually use it with a 60 mm front mounted tilt-tuned etalon for double-stacking. I mostly binoviewer with it with a Denkmeier and power switch.

I’ve been very happy with the views when seeing is good. Though I often wonder about a Lunt 80, one of the aspects of the 60 mm that I really like is that it is light enough to be an easy grab and go: scope, mount, tripod and all. Even for this old guy with a so-so back. And it all fits easily in a backpack. Phil has a Lunt 60 mm and we’ve all seen the high quality images he gets with it. He’s got me thinking about getting a camera and t4ying my hand at lucky imaging.

I’ve never looked through a Sky Watcher Heliostar 76 mm. My understanding is that it uses only a single etalon but achieves less than 0.5A bandwidth, similar to what Lunt claims with double-stacking. And at an aperture close to the Lunt 80 but at a weight not much more than the Lunt 60.

Sky Watcher also has a 100 mm H-alpha scope in the works, but I don’t know how long it will be before it’s available or how it will be priced. I would guess somewhere between the Lunt 80 and 100.

I have some difficulty feeling confident about the performance spec differences between these scopes. Mostly because tolerances for the etalons are so critical that even if you were to look through one of each to compare them, you wouldn’t really be certain if the scope you ended up with would be better or worse. And secondarily because I’m not certain at what point increasing aperture becomes a case of diminishing returns due to the less stable seeing during the day.

So, more questions than answers from me. Very interested in hearing what ou choose and your thinking.

David

[Bruce Elliott]

Jose,

Just to add some confusion and complication to the discussion - have you looked into the MLAstro SHG 700 spectroheliograph (https://mlastro.com/product/mlastro-shg-700-preorder/)? It's now been a few years since it hit the market with a bit of a splash. It's only for imaging, but being a spectrograph, it captures different wavelengths separately. The full disc of the Sun is captured by scanning as it crosses the slit of the spectrograph. You can then produce images from different wavelengths and combine them as desired.

Full disclosure - I have zero experience with this device, but the images I've seen are spectacular, and the reviews have been very positive, not only for this device, but for the company and the support you receive from its owner.

Another thing to think about!

Bruce

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