Coronado Telescope - Manual

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Dear Customer, Thank you for your purchase of a
Coronado Personal Solar Telescope ™ and welcome
to the ever-growing field of solar observing. The
PST ™ you are holding is the result of over 40 years
of optical engineering experience and our
determination to provide affordable Solar
instrumentation to the amateur community. We hope
you enjoy our Sun and will find the PST ™ to be an
exciting and addictive tool. Please take advantage of
our photo gallery and chat group, ‘Solar Chat’, both
at www.coronadofilters.com
Coronado Technology Group ™
1674 S. Research Loop, Ste 436,
Tucson, AZ, 85710
Tel: (520) 740-1561
Fax: (520) 624-5083
Toll Free in USA: 1-866-SUNWATCH
Viewing the Sun
The PST ™ has been designed for the easiest
possible use by experienced and novice amateurs
alike.
1. You have been provided with a 12.5mm
eyepiece. Coronado
™ guarantees the performance
of this and any CEMAX ™ eyepiece. It is possible
that other 1.25” eyepieces will not come to focus.
Begin your set up by inserting an eyepiece and
adjusting the thumbscrew until secured.
2. The PST ™ has been developed with an internal
version of our Sol Ranger ™ sun-spotting device.
Looking at the PST ™ head on you will notice a small
opening on the face of the PST ™ . This is the light
input for the Sol Ranger ™ and must remain
unobstructed. Adding a SM40/T-Max ™ will obstruct
the Sol Ranger ™ .
3. Along the top of the PST ™ is a small opaque
window. The light from the Sol Ranger ™ will project
a bright but harmless ball of light on this window
when the sun is lined up. Try to get the ball of light
into the dead center for best alignment.
4. Once the telescope is pointed at the sun you
need only to adjust the focus knob on the lower rear
portion of the PST
™ . This is the only external portion
of the PST ™ you will ever need to adjust. All of the
focusing is done via this knob. By looking through
the eyepiece and adjusting the focusing knob you
will be able to bring the Sun into sharp focus – you
will know you are focused when the edge of the disk
appears solid and sharply defined. You will need to
adjust the focus for different focal length eyepieces.
If you plan on using a mount other than the MALTA ™
tabletop mount you may skip this section. The PST ™
has been thoughtfully designed to attach to any
standard ¼ 20 pitch thread; this is the standard
mounting thread for Astronomy and Photography.
MALTA ™
Coronado ™ has designed a portable, stable, and
rugged tabletop mount for use with the PST. By
removing certain sections of the custom foam
packaging, see the drawing to your left, the disas-
sembled MALTA
™ will fit in with the PST ™ to provide
an all-inclusive package for easy transportation and
set up.
1. Once you have attached the MALTA ™ to the
PST ™ you only need to remove the legs for return-
ing the PST ™ to its case. The mount remains
attached.
2. Secure the mount head by threading the tension
screw through the swivel base and into the mount
head from the top down.
3. Attach the individual legs by threading them to
the swivel body.
Adjusting the Manual Altitude-Azimuth (MALTA ™ )
mount.
1. By adjusting the tension screw the mount will be
easily manipulated along the Azimuth or horizontal
axis. Re-tightening the tension screw will hold the
PST
™ in place.
2. The silver tension screw on the mount head will
adjust the Altitude or vertical axis and will hold the
PST
™ firm when tightened down.
3. See the PST ™ instructions for using the built in
Sol Ranger ™ for spotting the sun.
Storage
If you have not purchased the optional travel case
for the Coronado PST
™ you may skip this section.
Coronado has designed the packaging for your
PST
™ to fit directly into the optional carrying case.
Simply remove the telescope and accessories and
lift out the foam, a section from the top and right
hand side will have to be removed as shown below.
Slide the foam into the travel case with the cutouts
facing up and replace the PST and accessories.
Follow the color key and diagram.
Remove for use with optional
hard case.
Remove for storing MALTA™ mount
Eyepiece storage.
PST™ storage
Coronado Safety Warnings
As with all of our solar viewing products the PST ™
has been built with safety as the top priority. This
instrument was tested and sealed at our facilities as
a complete, safe, and working unit. Do not attempt
to disassemble the PST
™ . Doing so will void your
warranty and may compromise your safety.
Coronado is obsessed with safety and you should
be too. Details of our safety specifications can be
found at www.coronadofilters.com. Never use a
solar filter unless the manufacturer is able to
provide such information. Before each use make
sure the PST
™ does not appear damaged in any
way – if you have any questions please contact
Coronado or your dealer. It is possible to attach an
SM40/T-Max
™ combination to your PST ™ to further
reduce the bandpass. In the majority of cases the
SM40
™ will "match" optically with the PST ™ to
provide views at ~<0.6Å. In a few situations you
may need to return both PST
™ & SM40 ™ to the
manufacturer for "matching". There is a nominal
charge for this service.
Cleaning
Cleaning the PST ™ should be done with a fine
camel hair brush to remove any dirt from the
objective. High quality lens cleaner and a soft cloth
can also be used on the objective and the body
itself. Take care of the PST
™ as you would any high
quality optical instrument and the views will last a
lifetime.
Product Specifications
Aperture – 40mm
Focal Length – 400mm
F/ Ratio – F/10
Bandwidth – <1.0Å
Thermal Stability – 0.005Å/C
Blocking – Full blocking >10
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EUV to far IR
What You Will See With
The Coronado Personal Solar Telescope ™ .
The filtering of the PST ™ isolates a specific band-
width of light called Hydrogen Alpha. This allows
one to view the Sun’s Chromosphere. The image of
the sun will be a deep red across the entire disk. Be
aware that it can take time to ‘train’ one’s eye for
H-Alpha viewing. The more you use the PST
™ the
better your eye will get at discerning detail in the
Chromosphere. The sun is constantly changing and
will provide a new and dynamic view from day to
day and hour to hour. This is a list of general terms
for the features you will see.
Prominences – H-Alpha emissions features
projecting beyond the limb of the sun, consisting of
complex clouds or streamers of gas above or in the
chromosphere.
Filaments – Prominences seen against the face of
the sun, appearing as long narrow dark streamers
or diffuse complex dark areas in H-Alpha light.
Filaments often mark areas of magnetic shearing
Active Region - A localized, transient volume of
the solar atmosphere in which plages, sunspots,
and flares may be observed. Active regions are the
result of enhanced magnetic fields and appear
darker than the surrounding areas with a roughly
circular shape.
Plage – patchy H-Alpha brightening on the solar
disk, usually found in or near active regions, which
can last for several days. Plage is irregular in shape
and variable in brightness, marking areas of nearly
vertical emerging or reconnecting magnetic field
lines.
Sunspots – Moderate to large spots usually consist
of a darker central region (umbra) and a lighter halo
consisting of many short fine fibrils (penumbra).
Flares - A sudden eruption of energy in the solar
atmosphere lasting minutes to hours, from which
radiation and particles are emitted.
Solar image by Jack Newton-www.jacknewton.com
PST ™
Personal Solar Telescope ™
Instruction Manual
™
α
Sol Ranger ™ built in
Sun finder