Daystar Observing

These three images were taken today, 9/6/2015, with the DayStar Quark Hydrogen-Alpha Eyepiece (Prominence Model). What color the Sun looks like through the eyepiece is like the first one (farthest left); however, it is much crisper looking through the eyepiece as I took these pics freehand and afocally with a camera. The camera used was a 10 Megapixel CCD Canon Powershot. The other two pics above I edited to different colors for a nice visual effect. The Hydrogen red and blue pics show prominences.

I have used the Meade PST previously and that was okay; however, it only has 40mm aperture. By using the Daystar, a refractor, an Anker 2nd Gen Astro 6400mAh Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank, 32 mm Televue Plossl and a Televue Sol-Searcher Solar Finder I got a very close up and big view of the Sun. The Meade PST was a much smaller view and it was harder to make out the tree shaped prominences in as much detail as using the Daystar and my 70mm refractor. I also have seen plage surface details with the Daystar. This device has a knob to alter your "on-band" view by 0.1 A . After playing with some of these multiple settings I didn't see much of a difference in the view if at all.

Astronomy magazine reviewed Daystar in their June 2015 issue

NASA Solar Science

Equipment list for Solar Observing:

• Sunscreen

• A Sun hat, observing chair with an umbrella/clip on shade or finding a spot under a tree for some shade with your telescope on the edge of the shade lined up with the Sun.

• Telescope with Mount

• Eyepiece Bag with needed accessories

• Cool Drink (s)

• Camera with Eyepiece Mount (afocal) or Webcam (like Orion Starshoot)

• Light cloth that is black on inside and white on the outside to shield you from sunlight and to put overhead to see details clearer.

• Televue Sol-Searcher Solar Finder

• Anker 2nd Gen Astro 6400mAh Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank

My Basic Setup:

Anker 2nd Gen Astro 6400mAh Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank - $25

Celestron Travel Scope 70mm refractor in which I switched out the diagonal to a 90 degree - $70

Meade Instruments #918A 1.25-Inch Diagonal Prism - $40

Celestron Heavy-Duty Alt-Azimuth Tripod - $70

Daystar Quark Hydrogen-Alpha Eyepiece (Prominence Model) - $1000

Televue Sol-Searcher Solar Finder - $25

32 mm Televue Plossl - $150

Total Cost: $1380

The View through this setup: Priceless :-)

Some other things to note about the setup:

The Anker Power Supply may hibernate now and then so I have to "tap it" lightly to wake up and then the light on my Daystar comes back on. With no power attached to the Daystar I could view the Sun through the eyepiece (it has a built in solar filter). If you have a 40mm eyepiece that may be good to start out with to find the Sun. Also, using the Televue Sol Searcher I stand up facing the telescope from the objective lens side and (while adjusting the telescope) look to see the pinhole draw a Sun on the larger screen of the Sol Searcher (which is the side closer to the eyepiece end). I also used Velcro to attach the battery pack to the scope which has worked out well. A 32 mm EP (eyepiece) will show the entire Sun in this setup in view with a bit of black space around the disk.