Customer Reviews

Meade Personal Solar Telescope with Case Package

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

home for the last year, and have brought it out on every sunny day. On January 27, 2012 I happened to drag it out an hour after an X1.6 solar flare had occurred, and for an amateur astronomer the view was like winning the lottery. Will never forget the beautiful fountain of plasma, a fountain that I spent several hours just staring at. Unfortunately The school will eventually want theirs back so bought my own today.

I have used a lot of the models and can save you some trouble if you are on the fence.
There is nothing like the PST in it's price range... nothing even close!
Don't waste your money on a filter to fit over a normal scope. The difference between a solar filter and the PST is the difference between a black and white TV and a high definition plasma TV.
A bigger aperture isn't really better if you are just viewing, since the filter stops most of the light anyways.
IMHO The double stack isn't worth the extra cost. If you are on a budget just get the bare bones PST (consider getting the case!) and a sturdy camera tripod.
If you decide to spend $300+ for a high quality adjustable zoom lens you won't be disappointed. A high quality adjustable zoom is a joy to work with.
It takes time for your eye to become good at picking out detail. The first few times you may just see an orange ball, but after many hours of viewing your eye will become very adept at picking out details as soon as you look in the eyepiece. Be patient.
There is a "sweet spot", usually in the center of the field of view, where additional details can be discerned. Move the area you want to look at into the center of the field.
There is an easy way to align the scope. Put your hands around the barrel near the filter adjustment. Make the shadow of the barrel fall evenly around where your hands are. When you remove your hands the sun will usually already be in the focuser!
The unit is trivial to set up. I am usually looking at the Sun within one minute of opening the box.
Score easy brownie points. Show the Sun to family and friends. Most will really appreciate it, because most people have no idea what it really looks like. You will get people with no interest in learning anything but fortunately they are a small minority (at least in Michigan).

It's true that this telescope is only good for looking at the sun, and serves no other purpose. There is another way of looking at this situation. There are 200+ billion stars in the galaxy but you only get the opportunity to see ONE up close. You also can't use just a normal telescope to view it. Anyone who really understands that the Sun is one of those many points of light in the night sky...a unimaginably powerful nuclear furnace... a STAR!) cannot help but be amazed by what they are seeing through the eyepiece of a PST. You can actually see the prominences, filaments, and active regions changing over the course of a day, sometimes over the course of minutes, and the mathematical mind will eventually realize that those ionized gases are following magnetic field lines at relativistic speeds. It is truly wondrous.

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!

As an amateur astronomer for over 50 of my 63 years, I will agree that these scopes represent a huge leap in solar viewing, however I feel that the price is still WAY out of line for a scope with such limited use. I shall wait until the novelty wears off and the price drops. Until then, I'll be more than satisfied with photographs and images from the NASA channel. I recommend you all do the same. There is no earthly reason why any mass produced 1-1/2" filter should warrant such a price. A boycott will help bring the price down more quickly.