Hi Matt,
I think it is a fair comment to say that what you see in the images is not the same as at the eyepiece, as is the case with other astrophotography. This is not to say that you can't see plenty of interesting solar features at the eyepiece, however. For me, the PST seems to be best at prominences given its bandwidth. A Solarmax 40 will do a better job at surface features, but the 40mm aperture will limit your viewing to some degree. The new Lunt scopes coming out seem to do a pretty good job based on the balance of reviews, though the waitlist is long. You might be able to get a slightly larger aperture for your money with the Lunt. I have found the view through a 70mm scope to be great (when there is some action on the sun).
The main drawcard for me is that the view is different every day, which differs from your nighhttime viewing. If you have a simple mount setup for visual use, you can grab a quick look almost every day with a minimum of fuss. I would strongly recommend having a look through a scope first though (on a day where there is something to see). If prominences and active regions don't do it for you, then it is a lot of money to spend on a scope that can only look at one thing. I would offer to let you have a view through my scope, but I have moved from Canberra to Oman...
Cheers,
David
|