Coronado SolarMax II 60 0.5A H-Alpha Telescope w/ BF10 Blocking Filter

The SolarMax II 60 <0.5A H-alpha Telescope by Coronado:

Coronado Instruments has developed a series of h-alpha dedicated solar telescopes as a result of the often asked question, “What is the best telescope to use with a Coronado filter?” While almost all refractors and most reflecting telescopes can be used with a Coronado filter, no other telescope has been designed with all its optical aberrations and coatings optimized at H-alpha. Most nighttime telescopes, when used at H-alpha, will not have the image contrast exhibited by a SolarMax nor the image quality. Most broadband coatings, used on such telescopes, will have reduced effectiveness at this wavelength and telescopes (particularly reflectors) not specifically designed for Solar viewing, will exhibit unnecessary scattering and spurious light transmission. All of the Coronado scopes, even the PST, have been designed with this one wavelength of light in mind and will increase contrast and give you a darker background for viewing and imaging. 

“Why buy a telescope that can only look at one object?” The Sun in H-a is the most dynamic object you will ever see while pointing a telescope skywards. Constantly changing and never repeating itself the Sun through a Coronado filter will hold your attention for a lifetime. Coronado telescopes serve to enhance that view for you, your family, and friends. The telescopes provide an easy and portable set up that is always ready right out of the box. For those looking for more aperture we proudly present the SolarMax 60 dedicated H-alpha telescope. Built to our exacting standards the SolarMax 60’s provides the user a telescope with the same lightweight portability of our SolarMax 40 but the extra aperture greatly increases the resolution of detail on the surface and on the limb. With over twice the surface area of the SolarMax 40 the difference is obvious.

The standard SolarMax 60 is <0.7 Angstroms with a BF10 and is available with an external module to lower that to <0.5 Angstroms (included with this model). A RichView tuner attached directly behind the etalon gives you the ability to adjust for Doppler shifted light. Bino-viewers and most imaging equipment will come to focus, sometimes with the use of a Barlow or OCS. The advantage of the extra aperture becomes clear each time you view.

This Coronado SolarMax 60 is a handsome brass and black f/10 refractor with 400 mm focal length and 60 mm aperture. Its purpose is simple. The Coronado SolarMax 60 <0.5A was custom-built to optimize the performance of the SolarMax 60 Hydrogen-alpha solar filter. The SolarMax 60 was intended to do much than just reveal sunspots… it was meant for studying prominences, flares, granulation and more. The achromatic doublet lens designed by Dick Buchroeder utilizes special multi-layer anti-reflection coatings on all air-glass surfaces to optimize anti-ghosting. This is an important feature when observing such a bright target as the Sun. Safety issues include hard vacuum-deposited. non-degenerating coatings. This means not only are you assured your vision is protected but your investment as well. The Coronado Instruments SolarMax 60, when properly cared for, will last a lifetime.

The dual etalons (one internal and one external) of the Coronado SolarMax 60 are used to sharpen the filter’s normal <0.7 angstrom pass band to a very narrow <0.5 angstrom centered on the 6562.8 angstrom H-alpha line, thus improving contrast over the single etalon version. A complete second 60 mm etalon assembly is mounted in front of the Coronado SolarMax 60’s normal full-aperture 60 mm etalon along with a factory-installed and performance-matched 60 mm diameter second etalon mounted inside the telescope barrel. This etalon combination provides the contrast benefits of double stacking, but offers it at a lower cost. By using factory-matched etalons, you are also added better performance than an additional etalon added at a later time. .

On the outside, the Coronado Solar Max 60 <0.5 angstrom consists of a manual 1.25-inch drawtube which extends for coarse focusing. A secondary helical focusing ring around the drawtube is then used to provide the appropriate final fine focusing. Both visual observing and afocal imaging, as well as Barlow lenses are able to come to focus using this method and digital photography and binoviewers also experience no problems with focus.

Between the the solar filter etalon and the objective lens you’ll find the RichView tuner which mechanically tilts the filter’s bandpass of the h-alpha line. This allows observance of Doppler-shifted solar activity, such as moving flares!

Coronado SolarMax II 60 <0.5A Features:

OPT Product Number: CI-SMT60DS-10

• SolarMax II 60mm Solar Telescope with the Double-stack unit for high contrast on the Sun’s surface
• Threaded, Protective Metal Cover For Primary Lens
• Deluxe Hard Carrying Case
• Clamshell Mounting Rings w/1/4-inch to 20 Thread Tripod Adapter
• 25mm Eyepiece Included