[AZ-Observing] Question of the Day - Solar observing in white light or Ha
- From: "Jimmy Ray" <jimmy_ray@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 15:15:30 -0700
If it is at the observatory, no question, it's both as I piggyback the PST on
the back of Toto (who has white light filter) but what about when one is at
star parties other just playing around in the back yard (like I was today)?
Well, a quick trip to the old Astro "Junk Box", a hour in the shop and a trip
to Ace hardware for a couple of bolts produced this:
https://picasaweb.google.com/JimmyRay.AstroPix/DualSolarScopes?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-z2uyHqYb68QE#
Of course the idea is far from new, but is kind of cool to be able to flip
back and forth between the two scopes, or image out of one while still
observing with the other, etc. The white light scope is an Orion "Shorttube 80"
with a Celestron zoom eyepiece which made equalizing the FOV between the two
scopes a snap. The eyepiece on the PST is a 10mm "Lanthanum", which provides
excellent, "contrasty" images and are much better than any other eyepiece I
have had in that scope (don't know if the specialty Coronado eyepieces would be
better). I have Lynn Blackburn to thank for showing me that one. If you haven't
been happy with the views out of your PST, I strongly encourage you to give
that eyepiece, or it's 9mm brother a try.
The mount most everyone would recognize is classic Super Polaris. I recently
completely restored the mount and have all of the original accessories, etc.
but if you look close you will notice the clock drive seems out of place. The
drive is a current era, inexpensive unit made by Orion for their "Polaris"
clone. The only issue I had to come to grips with was drilling and tapping the
Super Polaris body to mount the motor unit. While there is a slight mis-match
in the drive speed needed between the two mounts or it just a matter of "what
da ya want for cheap", it definitely close enough for government work, and
public star parties as the drift is very minimal requiring a tap of the buttons
every 10 min or so.
All in all a fun Sunday afternoon project and as no new Astro stuff was
purchased the "bad weather curse" should have been avoided.
Thank you,
Jimmy Ray
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