Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

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danpro1
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Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by danpro1 »

Hello everyone,

Hope that you are all doing well.

I have recently acquired a very portable solar H alpha kit (Lunt 60mm DS/Takahashi Teegul-SP/carbon fiber tripod) to do public viewing. It was very popular during an Astrofest in Montreal yesterday! I was wondering if people have had the chance to compare eyepieces for use such as for solar viewing for the public? The ease of eye alignment with the eypiece (eye relief, among other factors ?) is very important for people who have not looked into an eyepiece before, and the intensity of the daylight closes the eye iris, so the challenge is different than, say, at night. My goal is to maximize public fun while looking at the Sun through this setup. Focal length of the eyepiece is around 8-10mm for proper magnification in this case. I also make sure that the head of the viewer is in shadow to minimize glare.

Thank you for your recommendations,

Daniel


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by DeepSolar64 »

For my 60mm Coronado I would use my Coronado Cemax 25mm and Orion 16mm EF eyepieces giving 16x and 25x respectively for low power high contrast views. I will sometimes use a Lunt 19mm eyepiece ( 21.5x ) and Coronado Cemax 12mm ( 33x ) as well. Only during good seeing and with bright features will I go higher, especially in single stack. I do have a Lunt 8mm which I occasionally use for 50x views.

The SolarMax II 90 is a different animal and will do much better at higher magnifications. Commonly double what the 60 will do.

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
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Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by marktownley »

I would go for a Baader hyperion.


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

EXACTLY AS MARK HAS JUST SAID.

THE HYPERION CLICK-STOP ZOOM 8 - 24 MM EP'S ARE IDEAL FOR PUBLIC OUUTREACH EVENTS AS FAR LESS MESSING-AROUND SWAPPING EP'S AND ESPECIALLY FOR THE 60MM LUNT+DS SCOPES...

ALSO ANY 8-24MM ZOOM EP'S TOO..

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TERRY


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I agree. I need a good zoom eyepiece.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
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Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by torsinadoc »

I second the Baader 8-24 zoom. I used it with my Lunt 60 this weekend for solar outreach. It’s a nice match


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by JochenM »

Another +1 for the Hyperion Zoom here. The flexibility of a good zoom is hard to beat for these type of situations.

Its eye relief is fairly decent, so I wouldn't worry too much about that (apart from the bright daylight hitting the other eye/face; which is always gonna be a thing of course). The only downside is that (like pretty much all zooms), it's not parfocal; so you'll find yourself having to slightly refocus if someone wants to increase/decrease the used EP focal length. If that's not something you want to have to deal with, I would just go for a plossl at whatever focal length you find appropriate (16-20'ish or so) and leave it at that.
Last edited by JochenM on Tue May 10, 2022 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by marios i. »

Daniel,
I'm using eyepieces, " telescope's focal ratio X2 (frX2)." If I used 40mm f10 the best eyepiece F.L.20mm and e.t.c.
I have the Celestron zoom 8-24 /40°-60° and is not bad at all! The low power always is better...my opinion 😊


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by danpro1 »

Thank you all for your recommendations; they are appreciated!


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by MAURITS »

A cheap zoom.


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Re: Your recommendation for an eyepice for public solar viewing?

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I have been looking at a couple of zooms from Orion as well as the Lunt zoom. Eye relief matters.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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