Meade Personal Solar Telescope with Case Package

by Coronado

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 20 inches ; 9.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 21 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001P4DOY4
• Item model number: PSTCP
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,902 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #65 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes > Refractors
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

40mm aperture, dedicated Ha telescope with 30mm internal etalon. 20mm Kellner eyepiece. 400mm FL. <1A bandwidth. Carrying case included.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, May 6, 2011

By 

K. Smith (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade Personal Solar Telescope with Case Package (Electronics)

As my first solar telescope, it is very easy to use and the views exceeded my expectations. An idiot could tune it and it works with all my normal eyepieces. I like using my Meade 15mm eyepiece more than the one it comes with. I can't wait to get the double stack filter to really up the contrast. Great scope for the price.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars personal solar telescope, March 4, 2011

By 

shopper1 (crying in the woods, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meade Personal Solar Telescope with Case Package (Electronics)

I'm just learning now how to use this. Package arrived in 2 days. I had to put it on my own tripod; it doesn't come with a mount. I also used my own higher magnification eyepieces from my other telescopes; it only comes with one 20mm eyepiece. The sun's disk is red, and the markings on the sun appear 3D. I saw 2 very nice looking, although small, prominences from the limb. There also appeared to be a filament. I also saw some sunspot groups. I'll probably get some of the accessory eyepieces from Coronado to improve the image, maybe bring out some more detail.

UPDATE
After a month, the scope is still working well. I saw a huge bright arc flare one day, and then later read about major solar activity disrupting communications in China. Today I saw a large detached prominence, and could compare it to what I saw on the SOHO site.

ANOTHER UPDATE
I don't know what happened, but sometimes my eyes feel sore. I'm still using the scope, though, and now I'm drawing images of the sun in a notebook. I don't really know how to rate this or how many stars to give it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing what this little scope can do, December 6, 2011

By 

R. Campbell (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meade Personal Solar Telescope with Case Package (Electronics)

First of all I should say that I don't own one of these but I've spent a lot of time using other people's PSTs. Also, I own a 60 mm Lunt solar scope, so I have something to compare it with.

This may sounds like a ridiculous telescope, since it's rather expensive and can be used only for the sun, but in reality solar observing is quite addictive and these scopes are feats of engineering. This design of solar telescope contains a filter which lets through only a very narrow range of wavelengths. The filter is tuned to allow through mostly light related to hydrogen atoms and little of anything else. The result is that you see a startling level of contrast which wouldn't be visible were you to simply dim the image with a strong neutral density filter. You can see prominences at the edge of the sun: these are matter which has been ejected from the sun's surface and flows outward along magnetic field lines. You can see sun-spots (which are also visible in white light, such as when you project the sun's image through a pin-hole and onto a piece of paper). You can see brighter "active regions", which sometimes form solar flares. You can see darker "filaments" across the surface. These filaments are prominences, but viewed face-on. Sometimes you can see a filament extending to the edge (the limb) of the sun and forming a prominence.

The image of the sun appears red and the sky appears black. It takes a minute or two to get your eye to adjust to this weird view: remember that everything is the same colour since you're looking at such a narrow range of wavelengths. The PST has a built-in solar "finder" to allow you to point the scope safely at the sun. Focusing is achieved by turning a knob, which moves an internal mechanism that you can't see. The etalon (the heart of the solar filter) is tuned by a ring which tilts the angle of the filter. This allows you pick out the hydrogen alpha absorption line. The exact wavelength of this line can be slightly blue or red-shifted as material on the sun can move very quickly. The tunable filter makes it easy to isolate these Doppler-shifted features. Overall, the PST is very easy to use and produces clear and sharp images. What I particularly like is that many solar features change over quite short time periods. I've seen a flare appear and die down. I've seen prominences appear and disappear over minutes. It's quite amazing to watch and this little telescope will show you these things. If the scope seems expensive, it's worth remembering that not so long ago instruments such as this were far more pricey and and didn't perform as reliably.

The practicalities are that you will need a tripod on which to mount this scope because it doesn't come with one. This isn't unusual for such instruments. The scope is fairly light so you should be able to get by with a good camera tripod. I've used a PST with a little table-top tripod and that worked very well. If you live in a humid area, the scope should be kept in box with a desiccant such as silica gel. All manufacturers have had instances of filters "rusting", so it's better to be safe than sorry. I believe Meade is fixing defective units for free, but they may cease to do so in future.

I take a star off for two reasons. This scope doesn't have a traditional focuser, which limits its use for imaging. To achieve focus you either need to use a Barlow (which you may not want to do) or perform afocal photography with a digital camera. This restriction is obviously not a problem for visual observers. The other reason is that, when double-stacked, it exhibits a very obvious bar-like sweet spot. This isn't aesthetically pleasing. However, the detail you get when double-sacked is good. Certainly more detail than a single-stacked 60 mm Lunt.

Overall, solar astronomy is a lot of fun because the sun is a changing target. These PSTs are quick to set up and easy to use. The solar cycle is ramping up and the Venus transit is approaching: don't miss out!