Collimating solar scopes
Collimating solar scopes
Am I correct in thinking that light only travels through an etalon in one direction so using a laser collimator will not work?
Allan
Re: Collimating solar scopes
The transmission of a hydrogen alpha solar filter set is going to be so small that unless you're using a laser tuned to hydrogen alpha wavelength you're unlikely to get a usable response in either direction.
However there's no reason why you can't collimate the scope without the filters in: and adding the filters shouldn't upset the collimation in any way.
However there's no reason why you can't collimate the scope without the filters in: and adding the filters shouldn't upset the collimation in any way.
Re: Collimating solar scopes
Thats good Brian, it should work with the pst mods,. However, I was thinking about how I might collimate my LS60T mod. I cannot remove the etalon from that one.
Allan
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Re: Collimating solar scopes
I've used a cheshire eyepiece in all of my solar scope mods... Definitely worth doing.
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
Re: Collimating solar scopes
Good news, I bought a Baader MkIII laser. I removed the BF from the LS60T and I could shine the laser all the way through the lunt etalon and see the laser dot on a piece of paper fixed to the end of the C6. I then covered both ends of the C6 tube with a paper target. I made a tiny hole in the centre of the near target and a cross in the centre of the far end target. Then it was simply a case of aligning the lunt so that the beam went through the hole and aligned with the cross at the other end.
Allan
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Re: Collimating solar scopes
Good stuff Alan. I will have to put a laser collimator on my Christmas list...
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
Re: Collimating solar scopes
For my Lunt/C6 project it turned out to be invaluable. I don't think I could have lined up 2 separate scopes without it.
Allan
Re: Collimating solar scopes
Good stuff Alan. I will have to put a laser collimator on my Christmas list...
There are diodes that are close to h-alpha and others that are a few nm off. If you are only collimating the objective then it does not matter but for the entire assembly you want a 658nm diode and temperature tune it. I am lucky enough to have spent 10 years developing a tunable laser in this frequency range for another project. But, sometimes luck favors the well prepared.
There are diodes that are close to h-alpha and others that are a few nm off. If you are only collimating the objective then it does not matter but for the entire assembly you want a 658nm diode and temperature tune it. I am lucky enough to have spent 10 years developing a tunable laser in this frequency range for another project. But, sometimes luck favors the well prepared.
Re: Collimating solar scopes
This is really not worth while for collimation but perhaps some people will find it interesting. This is one of my lasers.
http://redlum.xohp.pagesperso-orange.fr ... laser.html
http://redlum.xohp.pagesperso-orange.fr ... laser.html