 Home |
Equipment |
Observations |
Links |
Coronado CaK PST
Shoot the Sun with two barrels!
Coronado (now part of Meade) brought out a version of their PST
using the CaK frequency. 
The Coronado PST CaK telescope delivers light centred on the 393.4 nanometre Calcium K line within the visible spectrum. This filter isolates a layer of the Sun that is below and slightly cooler than the layer viewed with a Hydrogen Alpha filter.
The PST is a very attractive and simple telescope to use. The alignment process is very easy by moving a small spot of light to the centre of a spotting disc on top of the scope. Aperture is 40mm.
The primary purpose of any CaK instrument is for imaging. The PST is very simple to use but PENSIONERS BEWARE! The wavelength used by this CaK PST is to the far edge of the visible spectrum: I cannot see the sun's image in the scope at all (male aged 66 years), my younger pensioner wife can see the image!
I decided this needed to be mounted on a single plate with both the CaK PST and my Maxscope Hydrogen-alpha locked together enabling quick comparison views of the sun through the two frequencies. I could not find a standard astronomical store supplying such a plate; I was pointed to a specialist supplier, Ambermile, who previously were known for manufacture of Artemis camera kits but are now broadening their range into wider astro engineering. The plate is clearly seen in the above images and works well; I can recommend their pleasant and efficient service. Link to Ambermile.
I
found that the continual tracking of the Sun using a vernier mount was not
making digital imaging easy.
I saw a likely solution to the problem at Astrofest 2007 in London - an Orion Teletrack Alt-Az Tracking Mount. I bought one of these and, with a minor change to my Ambermile plate (see above), I now have a setup that provides reasonable guidance with cameras mounted.
The Orion mount is battery driven and comes with a reasonable
tripod. It can be set to automatically trigger a camera. Equipment of weight up
to 9 lbs can be mounted.
For observations I have made with the Coronado CaK PST click
-> 
For observations I have made with the MaxScope 40 click the image -> 