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
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.