Meade Personal Solar Telescope Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I just bought a Coronado PST a few weeks ago from Orion Telescopes via Amazon, and I love it! For years I've lusted after an H-alpha filter, but they were out of my discretionary budget.Not so with the PST. It's affordable, small, light and portable, well made and easy to use, so easy the only instructions are in a brochure.

The first sunny day after it arrived (had to wait 3 excruciating days), I anxiously set it up on a camera tripod. The PST has a threaded hole on the bottom that works with standard tripod mount screw.The built-in Sol Ranger sun finder made it safe and simple to locate the sun.I put my eye to the eyepiece, draped a dark towel over my head, adjusted the focus knob and saw an amazing arched solar prominence on the sun's limb, the biggest I've seen in the 3 weeks I've owned this scope.It was a great first view.

The supplied Kellner eyepiece works okay.I have better eyepieces from other telescopes, though, (have been a longtime night sky observer) and have enjoyed using the 18 mm most. I've also ordered a Cemax eyepiece, designed to work with Coronado solar scopes. I'm curious to see if there's much difference. It's backordered so I won't know for a few weeks.

Of note, there is a sweet spot looking through the eyepiece on the PST.It's where you get the best detail.Some people have a little trouble finding it at first.And if you have very poor eyesight, this scope probably isn't the best choice since it's the smallest in the Coronado line.However, though I'm "older" and wear strong reading glasses, I have no trouble seeing prominences and surface detail with the naked eye.

If solar photography is an interest, it will be more challenging with the PST than with a larger model.Nevertheless, browsing the Web you'll see it can be done and done well, especially if you enjoy technical tinkering and some digital image editing.There are amazing photos taken with the PST. I've tried some afocal (through the eyepiece) photography hand-holding my old Canon A85 4 MP camera.They turned out well enough to show some prominences. I was pleased to capture anything at all on the first try and using such crude technique.

I have other telescopes equipped with specially coated front-end solar filters for viewing sunspots in white light.In white light sunspots are black. In H-alpha they appear as super-intense focused regions of surface activity, and through an H-alpha filter everything is red. H-alpha shows prominences, gas jets and other solar phenomena not visible in white light.Each has its pluses, and the two complement one another.

In conclusion, the PST gives you value for your dollar. The views are unique, a thrill, and more than I would have imagined in a budget solar telescope.The sun is approaching maximum activity in its current cycle, and I can't wait for more days observing with this remarkable little gem.

UPDATE:
-After experimentation following some online tips, I've been able to capture surface detail with the digital camera.
-The Cemax 12 mm eyepiece arrived. It provides slightly better contrast, detail and a crisper view to my eyes. Now I'm waiting for the solar tracking tripod :-)

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Product Description:
40mm aperture, dedicated Ha telescope with 30mm internal etalon. 20mm Kellner eyepiece. 400mm FL. <1A bandwidth.

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