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Solar Imaging for Cheapos

Optolong L-Ultimate Equipment Filters H-alpha Narrowband
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Anderl avatar
Anderl avatar
Good Evening ladies and gentlemen, 

i am finally getting an mono camera and one thing I am looking forward to is imaging the sun with with some cheap white light foil and an ha 3nm filter. 
i have seen quite a few cool pictures taken with such an combination. And yes I know, it isn't an Lunt, PST or Daystar but it is enough for I what I want to do. 
The thing in question for me is the following:

Get an 3nm ha Filter 
or
Get an 2.5nm ha Filter?

Would It be possible to see any difference on the sun? or on deep sky objects which it will get mostly used for

and to get it even more stupid. 
Anybody who tried to double stack deep sky ha Filters? I have thought about it because I still own my l-ultimate.

thx
Andi
Benny Colyn avatar
Benny Colyn avatar
A basic solar scope like the coronado PST has a filter with a bandpass of 0.5 angstrom or 0.05nm. Deep sky filters are almost 2 orders of magnitude wider. I doubt you're gonna notice the difference between 2.5 or 3nm.

But as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating, feel free to try.

If you're open to alternative approaches, I recently saw a talk about a cheap way to do solar imaging with a DIY spectroheliograph that I hadn't heard of before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6KMOXhldEs
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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Don't waste your time and stick to proper white light imaging or get an H-a solar scope with an etalon and be done with, that's my advice. There is no middle ground. And obviously it doesn't make one jot of a difference if it is 3nm or 2.5nm and double stacking will only make things dimmer. In planetary (or solar or lunar) time is of the essence. The shorter the better.
Anderl avatar
Anderl avatar
Benny Colyn:
A basic solar scope like the coronado PST has a filter with a bandpass of 0.5 angstrom or 0.05nm. Deep sky filters are almost 2 orders of magnitude wider. I doubt you're gonna notice the difference between 2.5 or 3nm.

But as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating, feel free to try.

If you're open to alternative approaches, I recently saw a talk about a cheap way to do solar imaging with a DIY spectroheliograph that I hadn't heard of before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6KMOXhldEs

Thank you! Very interesting!
andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Or you can build your own solar telescope at a fraction of the price...

Optical kit for Sol’Ex spectroheliograph | Shelyak Instruments
Ed Dixon avatar
Ed Dixon avatar
Daystar Quark is one of the lower cost options here.  A small refractor and a mono camera work well there.