Monday, June 17, 2013

Coronado SolarMax II 60 Telescope

This post shows my first view of the Coronado SolarMax II 60 — a dedicated hydrogen-alpha solar telescope designed exclusively for safe daytime observation of the Sun. Here I focus only on the telescope itself, mounting options, and initial setup. Actual solar images and results are shown in separate posts.

Unlike regular telescopes that require external solar filters, the Coronado SolarMax II 60 includes a built-in H-alpha filter system. This allows direct observation of the Sun’s chromosphere, revealing prominences, filaments, and active regions when paired with a stable mount and camera.

For solar observation, a good mount is critical. The Sun moves quickly across the sky, and accurate tracking makes observation and imaging much easier. For my initial setup, I used a simple piggy-back configuration on a Celestron NexStar 4SE mount. This allowed me to take advantage of the GoTo system for easy solar tracking.

Coronado SolarMax II 60

Below is the piggy-back configuration using a Celestron NexStar 4SE. This simple setup allowed me to quickly align and track the Sun using the GoTo mount. Later, this configuration was further modified and improved — those changes are described in follow-up posts.

Celestron 4SE and piggyback Coronado Solarmax 60

Front view of Coronado SolarMax II 60 solar telescope mounted piggy-back

Coronado Solarmax 60 piggy-back

Front aperture detail of Coronado SolarMax II 60 H-alpha telescope

Celestron 4SE, Solarmax 60

Side view of Coronado SolarMax II 60 solar telescope on piggy-back mount

Piggy-back Coronado 60 Celestron 4SE

Rear view of Coronado SolarMax II 60 telescope focuser and mounting hardware

Piggy-Back Mount for Celestron NexStar 4 (Item# BRKTPIG4)

This first setup proved that even a simple piggy-back mount can work well for solar observation. In later posts, I show the actual solar images captured with this setup, as well as further mount refinements.