Quote:
Originally Posted by maksutover
Hey Matty
I got my PST a few months ago. The views are spectacular and with the sun changing everyday, its quite exciting. But keep in mind two facts:
1) we Are in solar minimum! Not much activity for some years
2) The ha images which you see on the net are somewhat different to what you see through the scope. Those images have been modified!
But other than that, its a fantastic instrument!
|
Actually this is strictly not correct.
Yes the sun is in minimum but there are still lovely proms visible and every now and again there is some fantastic sunspots.
I have attached an image of a recent one at high mag, as well as some images from my PST. When you are imaging you can see the detail that you get in the image. You cannot modify the image to get detail. It has to be there first. We simply sharpen them and then false colour them by using colour balance in PS. In terms of views, large sunspots really show up really well. A double stack filter (SM40) on a PST will give a dimmer image but will also give more contrast. For Ha viewing the lower the Angstrom number the better. So a PST is a 0.7A instrument. When you add a double stack filter it effectively gives you a 0.6-0.5A instrument. For the aperture this scope is a gem. It costs very little (shop around there are some people still charging too much) and is worth the money. Of course if you happen to get the chance to look through one, I advise taking the opportunity. Ha view does take about 3 months to hone your eye as it is a little different from DSO and planetary viewing. It is very addictive too.
It will give you a taste before you get sucked right into Ha viewing and imaging. The solar section at CN is also very good, plenty of images there to see. You will need to cut down the nose cone of the DMK to image with the PST. Reaching focus will be quite hard otherwise. Also I found that only powermates worked with the PST and standard barlows will not not reach focus.
Good luck with your wish list.