Australian Sky & Telescope - 04.2019

68 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE April 2019

thatwerefainteroreven

invisible before changing

the filters’ tuning.

Unlikeawhite-

lightviewoftheSun,

observinginthedimmer,

deep-red Hαband is less

straightforward. Details

areoftensubtleandless

defined compared to

white-lightviews.The

imageattheeyepiece

needs more sustained

scrutiny, requiring roughly

aminuteorsoforyour

eyetoadjusttothecontrastdifferences

across the monochromatic red solar

disk, similar to viewing, say, festoons

inJupiter’scloudtops.Themanual

recommendsa40-mmTeleVuePlössl

eyepieceforafull-diskview,andthat

eyepiecedidindeedexcelwhenItook

afirstlookattheentiresolardisk.

Shorter-focal-lengtheyepiecesanda2×

Barlowallowedmetozoominonfine

details.Contrastwasbestondayswith

clear,deep-blueskies,sinceevenslight

haze or high cirrus clouds tended to rob

theviewofdetail-definingcontrast.

When observing with the Solar

Scout,it’sbesttoassumeacomfortable

position so that your eye becomes

adjustedtothedeep-redview.Isetup

achair,andamakeshiftcardboard

shadearoundthescopeprovidedme

with additional comfort on many 30°+

summerdays.Ablackclothdraped

over my head at the eyepiece helped

too,thoughIdon’trecommenditon

scorching hot days. The ‘bullet’ finder

mountedontherightsideofthetube

is helpful for aiming the scope at the

Sun, though its pinhole-projected image

of the Sun is fuzzy on the finder’s rear

crosshair screen.

The more time you spend observing

with the scope, carefully scrutinising

prominence activity at the limb and

churning activity on the solar disk,

the more detail you’ll see. Adjusting

the tuning knob position requires a

few minutes of waiting for results,

which were sometimes very subtle, if

noticeable at all.

One feature of the

SolarScoutIquestionedis

its permanently extended

‘dewshield’infrontof

the objective lens. (Why

wouldatelescopeusedto

look exclusively at the Sun

beconcernedwithdew?)

AcalltoDaystarclarified

that this extension is no

dew shield, but is actually

meanttobothprotectthe

front element from dust

and act as an additional

baffle in the optical train,

helpingtoincreasecontrast.Whileit

is black, it doesn’t radiate enough heat

duringusetonoticeablydegradethe

view.

FocusingtheSS60Cisperformedby

twisting the large, red anodised collar

aroundthemiddleofthetelescopetube.

Thisrotatestheentirefrontportionof

thecarbon-fibretubeandobjectivebut

does not rotate the eyepiece holder. The

length of the tube remains constant

for the full focusing travel. There is

considerable image movement when

focusing, which was inconsequential

when observing visually at low powers.

Butthismovementoftheimage,

combined with having to essentially

grabtheentirescopetofocus,wasan

annoyingproblemathighpowers.Itwas

especiallyproblematicwhenIattached

acameratothetelescope,makingit

virtuallyimpossibletoachieveperfect

SThe exit aperture of the

Quark filter is large enough

to display the entire solar

disk using a 40-mm Tele

Vue Plössl.

SThe mounting shoe on the SS60C is

threaded to attach to most photo tripods, and

its base is formatted to fit in any Vixen-style

dovetail saddles. Users need to supply their

own star diagonal and eyepieces.

W Prominences were easy to see and record

through the SS60C with the author’s Celestron

Skyris 236M monochrome video camera,

though focusing the instrument with a camera

attached is difficult using the large, red

anodised helical focuser.

XFilaments, sunspots, and active regions

containing plages and field transition arches

are easily visible through the SS60C.

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