Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenb
Sorry I haven't had the time to contribute to this thread, I've been to busy outside actually enjoying the real world around me 
I've tried to read through all the guff posted here and I cannot find where you actually mention the make/model/aperture of your PST?
I remember sunspot activity of 25-30 years ago and I've experienced similar activity in the last 5-odd years with Ha and white light observing! People do seem to create this illusion that many things in their life were better in the good ol' days (some things actually were however) |
It's the original 40mm PST - I didn't think there was any other one.
I bought my first Focal 114mm reflector in around 1981, but took it back. Then a year or so later bought a Focal 76mm reflector which was so fantastic the first night I used it - that I took it back to K-mart and swapped it for another 114mm. And then my solar viewing started.
In 1992 I got a C8 and Thousand Oaks filter. My thoughts were "great views - but not many sunspots compared to the Focal". Then I got an 80mm refractor and Thousand Oaks filter, so that I could use it more often to look at the sun without lugging the C8 out. My thoughts were, "great views, but not many sunspots. Then I got the PST about a year after it came out, and my thoughts were for several years "Where are the sunspots?"
Quite frankly, there wasn't much around around those days that I don't think is better today. But sunspots were better. Especially when projected through Huygens eyepieces that were close to melting.
Cheers,
Renato