danielrpa
member
Reged: 09/03/07
Posts: 27
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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I've been looking at some solar astronomy resources online and I saw some really great stuff. One thing I noticed is that lots of people use telescopes with H-Alpha filters and that those are VERY expensive per inch of aperture. I wonder... Is there anything really cool you can do on the cheap, that is, with glass filters and/or <$300 equipment? I saw you can observe sunspot and transits (including the Atlantis one  )... Anything else?
I already have 2 telescopes, so I'm curious to know what people can do without shelling out lots of money...
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Daniel
8" Meade Lightbridge Reflector
4" Celestron Achromatic Refractor
7x35 Meade binoculars
10x25 Nikon binoculars
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Keith Howlett
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 977
Loc: Northumberland, UK
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Hi Daniel,
Welcome.
Your 4 inch refractor is a very useful size and you can make up a very effective and inexpensive white light filter from card and Baader Solar Film...
Making a card cell for Baader solar film
I used one myself for several years and it worked very well. As you mentioned it's great for sunspots (we have some now  ), transits and partial eclipses.
You could also make up a filter for your 8 inch if you were to block out the light coming through the truss poles. It's more likely to be seeing limited but one member of this forum has used a full aperture filter on a large reflector with surprisingly good results.
Cheers,
Keith
Edited by Keith Howlett (09/30/09 10:30 PM)
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danielrpa
member
Reged: 09/03/07
Posts: 27
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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Hey Keith, thank you for teh answer! Watching sunspots and transits... Doesn't it get old quickly? I mean, there are only so many transits . I don't mean to be dismissive, I'm just curious about what kinds of things people can do on the low end. In the night sky, there are just a ton of things you can observe...
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Daniel
8" Meade Lightbridge Reflector
4" Celestron Achromatic Refractor
7x35 Meade binoculars
10x25 Nikon binoculars
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Keith Howlett
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 977
Loc: Northumberland, UK
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Hi Daniel,
You have a point. 
The H-alpha is quite exciting by comparison with lots to see that is different every day.
Cheers,
Keith
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Ralph Marantino
Postmaster
Reged: 05/01/05
Posts: 6330
Loc: Old Bridge, New Jersey
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I have been a daily Solar observer for 23 years and before I got into h-alpha and cal-k I did a daily sunspot sketch.It was exciting enough to see the sunspots change size and shape on a protracted basis.
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Lunt H-alpha LS100THa/B3400
Rockland Astronomy Club
Member BAA Solar Section
Central Appalachian Astronomy Club
Astronomical League
DSPST,PST & 70mm Coronado Cal K telescope.2.2A
Zeiss 2 inch prism diagonal&Zeiss Zoom EP
2inch APM Herschel Wedge in a 94mm F7 Brandon
14.5 inch f4.2 Starmaster Dob(Zambuto mirror)
TeleView Genisis SDF with 1000 Oaks Glass filter
Zeiss 63mm f13.5 refractor 1000 Oaks Glass filter
Itty Bitty Solar Radio Telescope.
LHRIES Lite Solar Spectrometer
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Hegerberg
member
Reged: 10/24/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Atlanta Ga
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Hi Daniel,
You can put a Sun of a Gun together for about $30.
Regards
Bruce
Sun Gun
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skyward_eyes
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/12/06
Posts: 2101
Loc: Arizona
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Its really comes to personal interest. When I first got into solar observing and didnt really enjoy it all that much but over the past few years I have grown to enjoy it more. Now that the sun is SLOWLY moving the solar max it will become more fun to watch.
Observing the sun is unique becasue every day its something different. A white light filter is a very good way to start or for a bit more you could get a used Coronado PST H-Alpha solar scope, that has really been the entry scope for most of the solar observers here I would think.
If you do plan to get a white light filter for you 8" REALLY make sure you block any sun light coming through the truss. Other then that I had very good solar images using a 6" reflector.
Best of luck!
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www.skywardeyes.webs.com
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danielrpa
member
Reged: 09/03/07
Posts: 27
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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Yeah, I think the problem lies in deciding between the options you gave. At least for me, the regular white light filter doesn't seem much fun at all. However, the images from the Coronado/Lunt telescopes are awesome. I still need to figure out what kind of regular observation/Astronomy can be done with these 2 telescopes as their price tag is pretty high...
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Daniel
8" Meade Lightbridge Reflector
4" Celestron Achromatic Refractor
7x35 Meade binoculars
10x25 Nikon binoculars
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brianb11213
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/25/09
Posts: 2096
Loc: 55.215N 6.554W
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Quote:
However, the images from the Coronado/Lunt telescopes are awesome. I still need to figure out what kind of regular observation/Astronomy can be done with these 2 telescopes as their price tag is pretty high...
Sorry but Ha solar scopes/filters are utterly useless for looking at anything but the Sun. You might be able to image Venus but you'd probably need about a 20 minute exposure instead of 1/100 second ... don't forget that an ordinary scope needs a density 5 filter (transmission of 10 parts per million) to be safe for visual use, a narrowband solar filter passes about the same amount of light.
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danielrpa
member
Reged: 09/03/07
Posts: 27
Loc: Raleigh, NC
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I'm sorry, my reply was misleading. What I meant was "what time of SOLAR Astronomy". I use my telescope regularly in the night sky and there's a ton to do. Given some recent time constraints, it would be good for me if I could do some day time observing... thus the questions about solar observing. The "on the cheap" is just because I don't want to throw a lot of money in something I might not like in the future.
With the night sky, there are a ton of things to observe... Double stars, planets, deep sky objects etc. I was just wondering what I'd do day after day with a solar telescope... Maybe I should start a thread asking folks about their general experience with solar observing rather than focus on the price constraints. That is, if I had 2K to burn in solar astronomy, how would be my day-to-day experience?
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Daniel
8" Meade Lightbridge Reflector
4" Celestron Achromatic Refractor
7x35 Meade binoculars
10x25 Nikon binoculars
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EddWen
sage
Reged: 04/26/08
Posts: 367
Loc: Here or There
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I enjoyed the last two solar maxes using a white light filter only. The dynamics of sunspots changing day-to-day and hour-to-hour is always interesting.
Now, since I have a SolarMax 90, I've prolonged the coming of the next max.
Get some Baader film, make some filters (meets the cheap criteria) and wait for things to start to happen.
Good luck,
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Edd Weninger
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**** Lightshield Observatory SoCal ****
Nexstar 11 GPS Questar 3.5
A-P 900 A-P Traveler
**** Blackdog Observatory Arizona ****
A-P 155EDF A-P 1200GTO Coronado SolarMax 90
Orion ED80 Baader Mk V bino-viewer
CGE STV Canon 18x50IS
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Don Trinko
super member
Reged: 07/05/09
Posts: 131
Loc: Ohio
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I bought the PST abought a month ago. I have used it 3 times so far. (clouds!) It is considerably more expensive than a white light filter but is abought 1/2 the price of a Ha filter. The big negative is the only thing you can look at is the sun but... daytime plus night time = more viewing opertunities. Don T.
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Nexstar 8SE
Meade DS2130at-lnt
Astro-Tech 66mm
Coranado PST 40mm
Celestron 10x50 binoculars
Nikon 7x35 Binoculars
EP's 8 to 24 Zuhmell, 8 to 24 Hyperion, 12.5 Astro-Tech Paradime, Celestron 40,26,9.7 plossel,
Zuhmell 32,12.5,6,4 plossel , TMB 5,3.2, planitary II.
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molniyabeer
Confused and Asleep
Reged: 01/08/05
Posts: 2554
Loc: Central Coast, California
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Watching a complex sunspot group evolve as it crosses the disk is really cool. You can get some spectacular shots or make some pretty good sketches with your 4" and a baader film filter. Yeah, there are few spots at the moment but my first views came well into the downside of the last cycle and the larger spot groups in 2006 and 2007 were pretty nifty. Give it some time for the sun to ramp up and I think you'll be pleased with white light solar.
That said, I've also had a blast with my PST, both as a visual instrument and for imaging. But like most things, I've got the "upgrade fever..."
Clear skies.
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Steve
16" Meade LightBridge (Beowulf)
10" Hardin DSH, StarMax 127mm Mak, PST H-a
Oberwerk 11 x 70 binocs, Tasco 10 x 50 binocs
Santa Maria Clear Sky Clock
Figueroa Mt Clear Sky Clock
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old_frankland
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/28/05
Posts: 513
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
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With a web cam, laptop, and Baader solar film filter, your 4 inch refractor would be killer for solar imaging. A web cam or digital video would run $100 to $400, image processing software like RegiStax is free. White light maging can be most rewarding.
http://www.lafterhall.com/dmk_sv102ed_ar1026_22sep09_001.jpg
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Cheers,
Jim
Livermore CA
http://www.lafterhall.com/astro.html
3" APO, 4" ED refractor, 9" SCT, GM8
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colinsk
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/17/08
Posts: 2150
Loc: CA
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The sun is a very large and very dynamic object. Now that I watch the sun I don't seem to ever have time to go search for another faint fuzzball. It is really only Jupiter that starts to compare with the activity of the sun and since the angular size is so small compared to the sun the details are more difficult to see.
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Mahalo,
Colin Kaminski
Coulter 10.1" Dobsonian
TV-76/Baader Film White Light
LS60T/DS50/FT/BF1200
LDX-75
AT Voyager
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ragebot
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 1672
Loc: Tallahassee, FL, USA
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Quote:
SNIP so I'm curious to know what people can do without shelling out lots of money...
My experience has been a little different than some of the others here. I started off with an Orion 90mm Mak. While it was fun at first to look at objects that were very small in the field of view that got old, for me at least, very quickly. Stuff like M42, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus did not seem all that cool after maybe five minutes.
The Moon on the other hand filled up the entire FOV at what I call reasonable magnification, and I am one of those guys who often goes to stoopid magnification. It was always interesting for me to follow the lunar terminator and see the shapes of features on the Moon change as the shadows moved across them.
Then I got some Baader film and made a DIY white light filter. This was back in the day when sun spots were a common feature. It was fun to watch the sun spots move across the face of the Sun and change in shape and size. There was not as much activity as on the lunar terminator, but still there was not the problem of observing a completely full or small sliver of the Moon.
I do know guys who almost never observe the Moon, and only like to view faint fuzz balls that all look the same to me.
Bottom line is that some folks like searching for things they can hardly see, while other folks like to have a crisp image of features like the lunar terminator. You are the best person to judge which type of person you are.
One word of warning, my Baader filter sees little use now, same for my clubs PST. My DS SM40 and Lunt CaK mounted on an iOptron Mount and stored by the patio door sees lots of use; and if the seeing supports it my SO <.3A rig gets use.
Solar telescopes are like potato chips; you cant stop at just one. 
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Meade ETX 90, Meade AR5, Orion ED80, Atlas GT, 8 in Newt, Coronado DS SM40, Garrett 10.5X70, Sigma SD10, SD14, Canon 1D2, Xti, Nikon CP4500, C-14
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 342
Loc: Canada
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Quote:
Solar telescopes are like potato chips; you cant stop at just one.
The same goes with eyepieces and night-time scopes too!
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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