SOLD
“Why buy a telescope that can only look at one object?” The Sun in hydrogen-alpha is the most dynamic object you will ever see while pointing a telescope skywards. Constantly changing and never repeating itself, the Sun - through a sub-Angstrom passband hydrogen-alpha filter - will hold your attention for a lifetime.
The Coronado SolarMax 40 is a handsome gold and black refractor, custom-built to optimise the performance of the front-mounted, narrow band, hydrogen-alpha filter. A dedicated solar viewing telescope that is always ready for use, with easy and portable set-up, the SolarMax 40 is designed to do much more than merely show you sunspots. It will reveal the ever-changing tapestry of prominences leaping off the edges of the solar disk, the explosive upheavals of flares on the face of the Sun, and detailed views of the subtle shapes and patterns of plage, filaments, fibrils and granulation across the face of this nearest of stars.
The SolarMax 40’s achromatic doublet lens was created especially for solar observing and uses special multi-layer, anti-reflection coatings on all air-glass surfaces to optimise anti-ghosting. The hard, vacuum-deposited coatings, assure a long lifetime of detailed solar observing. The scope delivers diffraction-limited performance and the extremely high contrast needed to see both subtle surface details and the full explosive power of flares and prominences.
The two-stage solar filter consists of a 40mm etalon in front of the objective lens and a 10mm clear aperture blocking filter in the scope’s 1.25" star diagonal. The solar filter has a <0.7 Ångstrom passband, centered on the 6562.8 Ångstrom hydrogen-alpha line. This sub-Ångstrom passband width gives you an ideal balance of prominence and surface detail. The filter is thermally stable, so there is no drifting off the hydrogen-alpha line as the filter heats up during use. The 10mm clear aperture of the blocking filter portion of the hydrogen-alpha system built into the star diagonal, is matched to the focal length of the telescope to give full disk views of the Sun.
The SolarMax 40 has a manual 1.25" drawtube that extends for coarse focusing and a helical focusing ring around the drawtube facilitates necessary fine focusing. This method provides enough back focus for both visual observing and afocal imaging. The 10mm blocking filter aperture allows you to use a Barlow in front of the SolarMax 40’s blocking filter/diagonal, which makes digital photography easier and allows the use of a binoviewer with the SolarMax. These features plus enhanced surface detail make the SolarMax 40 a versatile instrument that produces remarkable solar images.
The SolarMax 40 comes standard with a <0.7 angstrom bandpass which results in increased surface detail across the disk. A T-Max tuner wheel directly behind the etalon gives the observer the ability to de-tune the telescope's optical system to adjust for Doppler-shifted light. The wavelengths produced by high-velocity events such as active flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) can Doppler-shift and become invisible to a fixed band hydrogen-alpha system. The adjustment range made possible by the T-Max tuner allows these phenomena to become more visible.
The scope comes with a 25mm (16x) Coronado Cemax eyepiece. These eyepieces use an anti-reflection multi-coatings formula that has been optimised for the highest possible contrast during solar viewing of subtle prominence and surface detail. (You can use most 1.25" eyepieces with the SolarMax 40 and even quality plössls work well, as their contrast is generally good and their fields are flat). A hard carrying case is provided, to transport and store the SolarMax 40. A 1/4"-20 thread tripod adapter socket is built into the scope’s clamshell ring to allow mounting the telescope on a photo tripod, as well as on most astronomical mounts.
Specifications- Objective diameter - 40 mm
- Focal length - 400 mm
- F/Ratio - F/10
- Length - 42.5 cm
- Weight - 1.36 kg
- Bandwidth - <0.7Å
With the present solar cycle ramping up towards solar maximum around mid-decade, sunspots, flares, prominences, coronal mass ejections and other solar phenomena are increasing in both frequency and size and the SolarMax 40 makes them all readily observable. In June 2012, eastern Australia offers one of the best vantage points in the world for the last Transit of Venus that anyone alive today will ever see (
Transit Wikipedia entry and
Transit website). Now more than ever, is a perfect time to get started with hydrogen-alpha solar astronomy and prepare for this historic event.
This Coronado SolarMax 40 is a 3-4 year old US-built model, in excellent cosmetic and optical condition and has proven capable of outstanding visual and photographic results. It comes complete with a Coronado case, a Televue Sol-Searcher sun finder (not shown in photos), a 25mm Coronado Cemax eyepiece, a Coronado clamshell and a 100mm Vixen-style dovetail adapter. All for only
$1,000, which includes careful packing and registered, insured postage to anywhere in Australia. Inquiries by PM only, please. (Personal inspection is welcome if you’re local to Perth).
Early Bird Buy It Now Incentive!
Here’s a special bonus for a buyer prior to Western Australia’s upcoming Foundation Day long weekend (4-6 June):
Buy it now and included with the above package will be a 14mm long eye relief ED eyepiece (an OEM version of the Celestron X-Cel/Saxon ED series). 6-element, fully multi-coated optical design, utilising extra low dispersion (ED) glass on its most highly-curved surfaces to minimize chromatic aberration. With a soft rubber eyecup, wide 55° apparent field of view, 20mm eye relief and a large 25mm clear aperture, this is one of the most comfortable eyepieces to use. It’s also a perfect medium-power match to the focal length of the SolarMax 40, producing a large, detailed image of the Sun, with plenty of contrast. The bonus eyepiece includes top and bottom caps and a durable plastic bolt case. (NB:
This offer is only applicable to a buyer confirmed before Saturday 4 June – don’t wait and miss out!)
. My lovely wife wants this scope.
sorry i found the emoticons
