Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth
Item#: HN-MEAD208
Sale Price:
$649.98
7%
What's Included
Solar telescope
Description
The PST is the latest innovation from Coronado. This "little" telescope is another step toward our goal of making it possible for everyone to "experience the Sun our way."
Sub angstrom H-A systems have long been cost prohibitive for the amateur. Designs other than the Coronado are difficult to use because of temperature and F-Ratio requirements. Not only does the PST have a bandpass of
The PST represents the same technology and quality that goes into a SolarMax series telescope, but with a few unique design characteristics that allow us to offer it for less than some premium eyepieces. The PST will show you prominences, active regions, filaments, as well as other surface details. At
- 20mm Kellner Eyepiece included with PST Scope
Dimensions & Specifications
Brand
Coronado
Telescope Accessories Series
PST Personal Solar Telescope
User Level
For the Enthusiast, For the Expert
Celestron Alt-Azimuth Heavy Duty Tripod for Binoculars and Spotting Scopes Sale Price:
$99.98
31%
Suggestions for You
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 15 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
91%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Strong construction (9)
- Easy to use (8)
- Great optics (7)
- Good padding (4)
- Widely compatible adapter (4)
Cons
Best Uses
- Astronomy (9)
- Bright conditions (4)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Casual/ recreational (7), Avid adventurer (4)
- Was this a gift?:
- No (7)
Most Liked Positive Review
PST Arrived: I'm addicted!
I just got a brand new Personal Solar Telescope a few days ago and I have to say that I love this thing! I can easily see numerous prominences and the orange peel effect is...Read complete review
I just got a brand new Personal Solar Telescope a few days ago and I have to say that I love this thing! I can easily see numerous prominences and the orange peel effect is ridiculously obvious thru my eyepiece. Prominences appear very bright as well! The prominences I'm seeing show a level of fine detail that surpassed my best expectations from doing my research. They seem to be even more detailed than I've seen in pictures. They appear as though they have been pulled from fine cotton. Each shows unique structure that is fascinating. Friends and family have all been amazed by what they have seen as well. I enjoy getting the oohs and aahs.
I found that my Orion Epic ED2 7.5mm eyepiece provides me with the best views so far. I can get the whole disk into view and I am zoomed in enough that I can see fine detail wherever I look. The included 20mm Kellner eyepiece shows the solar disk a bit too small to show the best detail in my opinion.
I'm also seeing more and more surface detail each day as I'm learning how to see in H-alpha. I already built a homemade sunshield out of some black foam board, superglue and velcro. I also added an eyepiece shield I saw here. Both of these add-ons boosted contrast of the image and made observing more comfortable. It's great how dynamic and changing the sun is! I've literally observed changes occur over the course of a few minutes for prominences.
On one session on 14 April, I counted 12 prominences erupting from the sun's surface into space along 50% of the limb. These 12 projections I observed were just on one half of the sun! Another much larger eruption and a few other small ones could be seen projecting from the other 50% as well. I've been bitten by the red light solar bug badly! This has been money well spent.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Definitely interesting...
Seeing some of the other reviews and pictures from the PST, I have to admit that I believed the hype. And while you CAN see quite a few interesting items with it (Granulation, ...Read complete review
Seeing some of the other reviews and pictures from the PST, I have to admit that I believed the hype. And while you CAN see quite a few interesting items with it (Granulation, prominences from the solar limb), it's nowhere NEAR what I was expecting. Is that mostly my fault for not doing better due-diligence? You bet. But at the same time, I think there might be a small bit of fault with Coronado for raising my expectations.
If you get this, don't expect ANYTHING like the pictures you see out there. And get ready to hear a lot of, "Ummm, all I see is a red disc" and "Oh yeah, I can kind of see the hair things coming off of it. That's kind of cool I guess" (And that's after you use your own eyepiece. The one they provide is fairly useless).
I might be more happy that I got this once the solar period picks up, but until then it's staying in a box for the most part unless somebody new wants to see it.
3 main points:
1) Use a tripod. I just used an old one that I had for a camera, it will take any of them. But you 100% will NOT be able to use it being handheld.
2) The sun finder that's built into it is REALLY handy. When I first saw that, I thought to myself - "Wow, if you can't find the SUN with a telescope, maybe astronomy isn't the thing for you". But after fumbling around for awhile, I realized that due to the fairly narrow FOV, it makes it a LOT easier.
3) While the PST is a lot cheaper than the other alternatives, it's still fairly expensive for what you get.
Reviewed by 15 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-5
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Pros
- Easy To Use
- Great Optics
- Widely Compatible Adapter
Cons
Best Uses
- Astronomy
Comments about Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth:
the scope works well. great detial from the solar flares and the surface. As with any scope it pays to have a few extra quality eye pieces. i am using a 10mm eye piece from another scope i own and am getting good detail and clarity with it. My only complaint with this scope is the plastic/nylon compression screw for the eye piece holder. i am not a big fan of plastic on anything i own.
- Was this a gift?:
- No
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Padding
- Great Optics
- Strong Construction
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth:
I am a newcomer to backyard astronomy, and I bought this scope in lieu of a very expensive, I-can't-believe-they-make-them-that-big H alpha filter for my 8inch SCT. Based on the fact that the beautiful Hubble images we know and love really look like wisps of smoke and smears through an eyepiece, I wasn't expecting anything too spectacular...but what a surprise I got...The image was fantastic! (note: fantastic through an eyepiece, it still takes decent imaging skills/equipment and processing to get images like you see online) I am an amateur-not even completely acquainted with my SCT-but I took the PST straight out of the box, set it up in the driveway on a broken tripod, made the proper adjustments, and wow! Granulation, sun spots, prominences galore! My husband's friends ditched the garage to take a look, and I couldn't get them away from it!
It is great to see this quality of optics, in a such a well-built unit, for a decent price. It's lightweight and easily portable, though I piggyback it on my SCT for the tracking.
One little hitch I came across: I am getting started in astrophotography, so I had done quite a bit of research about the best way to attach a camera to the PST because it doesn't have the usual visual back that I have the adapters for. I finally decided on a little creativity and a trip to the hardware store, and I built myself a T-adapter adapter for about $4...not too difficult. Although, just holding a webcam up to the eyepiece produced surprisingly decent results...hmmm.
Overall, fantastic! I definitely recommend this product, especially for the price!
- Was this a gift?:
- No
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Great Optics
- Strong Construction
- Widely Compatible Adapter
Cons
Best Uses
- Astronomy
Comments about Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth:
Just as advertised. I bought this scope for the Venus transit on June 5th. I have viewed the sun through it just about every day and it shows remarkable detail on the surface and along the limb of the chromoshere. A wonderfull addition to my stable of scopes.
Service and delivery comments:
Greatist deal going. Got my order next day with no additional shipping costs. You just cant beat that anywhere!!!!
- Was this a gift?:
- No
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Padding
- Great Optics
- Solid
- Strong Construction
Cons
Best Uses
- Astronomy
- Bright Conditions
- Nice traveler scope
- Travel
Comments about Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth:
works great in conjunction with my other solar filter for viewing sunspots
- Was this a gift?:
- No
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Padding
- Great Optics
- Strong Construction
Cons
Best Uses
- Astronomy
- Bright Conditions
- Travel
Comments about Coronado PST - Personal Solar Telescope 1A Bandwidth:
Bought for the transit
- Was this a gift?:
- No
Displaying reviews 1-5
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