Meade CORONADO P.S.T. User manual
P.S.T.®Personal Solar Telescope
Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Telescope
2
WARNING!
Looking at the Sun can be very dangerous unless the proper precauons are taken and
specialized solar viewing equipment, like Coronado Solar lters and telescopes are
used. Never look at the Sun directly with your eyes. When using Coronado lters on
a telescope not designed specically for solar viewing, be sure to block all non-ltered
opcal components such as viewnders to prevent the suns light from passing through. An inadvertent
glance thought an unltered or improperly ltered opcal system can cause immediate and permanent
damage to the eye. Never allow unaended children to operate or be near a solar telescope system.
Coronado hydrogen-alpha telescopes and lters are designed and tested to provide safe viewing of the
Sun. These systems consist of two crical parts: The etalon lter that may be mounted at the front of
the telescope or internally inside the telescope tube and the blocking lter that is mounted at the back
of the telescope. Both of these components must be properly installed to provide safe solar viewing.
Most Coronado blocking lters (BF lters) are installed in a special diagonal that mounts at the rear of
the telescope and holds the eyepiece. Do not replace this diagonal with any other diagonal. Without the
blocking lter inside the dedicated Coronado diagonal, light from the sun is not fully ltered and looking
through the system can result in eye damage even with a quick glance.
READ THIS MANUAL COMPLETELY BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO USE YOUR
NEW CORONADO PRODUCT. IT CONTAINS SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
REQUIRED FOR THE SAFE USE OF YOUR PRODUCT.
3
Meade Instruments has night and day covered for the amateur astronomer. Meade is the leader
in night me astronomy with the most advanced opcal, mechanical and electronic systems
for viewing the night sky. With Coronado and the development of the SolarMax, Meade is the
clear leader in solar day me observing as well. Whether you are imaging deep sky objects with
your Meade astronomical telescope or gazing at our nearest star through a Coronado SolarMax
telescope, keep an eye on the Meade team to provide you with the most technologically advanced
and innovave product to enhance your enjoyment of astronomy. No maer where, or what me
of day your interest in astronomy calls to you, we will be there with you.
Night and Day, we’ve got you covered.
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Table of Contents
About Coronado®..............................................5
Filter Safety ...................................................6
PST Single Stack Telescope ..................................... 7-9
PST Double Stack Telescope ................................... 9-12
Cleaning .....................................................13
Care ........................................................13
Addional Support and Accessories ..............................14
Denion of Terms ............................................15
H-α Solar Features ............................................16
Solar Facts ...................................................17
Troubleshoong ........................................... 17-18
Warranty & Registraon..................................... 19-20
5
About Coronado®
Coronado® was founded in 1997 by David Lunt and Geraldine Hogan as Coronado Technology
Group. David Lunt’s 40 plus years experience at the forefront of opcal design and innovaon
translated into patented technology allowing the classical Fabry-Pérot etalon to be
constructed in a novel way. Tremendous demand changed the inial concept of producing a
few hydrogen-alpha (H-α) telescopes a month for the advanced solar amateur. As word got
out that these telescopes and lters produced amazing views of the Sun, Coronado grew
rapidly. As demand vastly exceeded the small company’s ability to produce, the owners of Coronado decided
to sell their operaon to a company with the experience in higher volume manufacturing but sll had then
dedicaon to quality and detail that Coronado was known for. That company is Meade Instruments.
In June of 2010 Meade Instruments announced the introducon of the revoluonary SolarMax II line of solar
observing telescopes and lters. The new SolarMax II was a breakthrough in solar observing with the new
RichView™ tuning system. This patented system allows direct tuning of the primary etalon lter. No other
commercially available H-α telescope can provide the tuning range and accuracy of the SolarMax II. Observers
can now tune for the highest contrast views of acve regions, ares, laments, and other surface detail, or
quickly and easily re-tune for prominences on the solar limb.
We connue to maintain the founders philosophy for building lters — Safety, Quality, and Performance. You
can be rest assured that your new instrument has been hand assembled and tested before being sealed in the
box. In fact, every telescope and lter is eld tested on the Sun so we are condent you can look forward to a
lifeme of fantasc H-α views of our dynamic Sun. If you have any quesons please do not hesitate to contact
us.
6
Filter Safety
Safety - It is widely known that there are inherent dangers involved with observing the Sun.
Meade Instruments has always been, is, and always will be, obsessed with the safety of its
products. A proposed new product is not released unl it has been fully proven that it can
be made completely safe for the user. All Coronado instruments are tested and sealed at our
facilies as complete, safe, and working units. Do not aempt to disassemble any Coronado
product, doing so will void your warranty and could compromise your safety. Before each use
make sure your lter does not appear damaged in any way. If you have any doubts please call our customer
support. Meade is obsessed with safety and you should be too.
We recommend you establish a safety checklist for each viewing session, ensuring that all adaptors, lters and
blocking lters are installed and secure before aligning the system to the sun. Make this safety check part of
your observing roune. Never leave a solar telescope unaended.
An addional safety consideraon is exposure to the Sun. Always use sunscreen, and wear a hat and long
sleeved shirt while observing.
7
RichView™ tuning ring
for internal Etalon
PST®
Focusing Knob
PST®Personal Solar Telescope
8
Congratulaons on your purchase!
Meade Instruments has shipped
your Coronado PST dedicated H-α
telescope fully assembled and
ready for use. Be sure to read the
safety and cleaning instrucons on
page 13 before using your PST telescope. You can
refer to the diagrams below for quesons regarding
the components of your system. Please read these
instrucons in full before seng up your new PST
telescope and contact customer service if you have
any quesons.
Mounng
The threads on the boom of the PST are compable
with any ¼ -20 thread. Most standard photographic
mounts and mounng hardware can be used to
provide a safe, stable, and reliable set up. This is also
compable with piggyback mounng systems.
A vixen-style dovetail rail (#07932) can also be
aached to the boom of the PST using the ¼ -20
mounng threads and allows use of the PST on
mounts with a vixen-style dovetail receiver.
WARNING!
Do not insert your eyepiece unl you have conrmed
that the telescope is securely mounted and all lter
elements aached and secured.
Finding the Sun
The P.S.T.™ has been designed with an internal Sol
Ranger™ Sun spong device. There is a small pinhole
on the front face of the P.S.T.™ body and a small
opaque window on the top, near the eyepiece holder.
When properly aligned on the Sun the pinhole will
let in light that will be projected onto the opaque
glass in the form of a small harmless ball. It is NOT
necessary to put your eye up to the opaque glass.
Best alignment will be found when this ball of light is
near center but it is not always dead center. Adding
a SME-40 with T-Max™ double stacking lter will
obstruct the Sol Ranger- Do not put your eye up to
the opaque glass.
Tuning and Focusing the PST
Because dierent features on the Sun are moving
toward or away from the Earth, their light is Doppler
shied o the hydrogen-alpha line of 6562.8
Angstroms, you will need to adjust the tuning slightly
9
to get the best high-contrast views of the features
you want to observe. The PST is equipped with a
tuning mechanism that allows the user to adjust
performance of the solar lter. The purpose of this
adjustment is to compensate for possible detuning of
the lter due to the change in operang condions
(such as barometric pressure that can change with
elevaon changes.) The adjustable tuner is located
right at the end of the opcal tube assembly where
it merges to the rectangular body of the PST, and
is easily recognized by the knurled rubber ring (see
Pg. 7). The minute spectral adjustment of the etalon
lter is accomplished by simply rotang this knurled
ring in either direcon. In most instances the lter
adjustment will not be required – the PST is delivered
properly tuned by Meade engineers. The judgment
about occasional adjustment is made based on overall
image quality and the ability to see the image details
with a sasfactory contrast.
NOTE: The maximum possible extent of a
(relavely ght) rotaon of the adjustable tuner
is approximately 130°. No excessive force should
be applied in an aempt to rotate the knurled
ring further than mechanically allowed. The best
achievable contrast of the image will be found within
the limits of adjustment, and, once such image is
obtained, no further improvement of the image
quality can be gained by forcing the tuner.
In search for a beer solar image, the astronomer
should rst nd the “sweet spot” by appropriately
focusing the telescope using the focusing knob. Once
the PST is appropriately focused, the edge of the solar
disk will appear sharp. However, if, for example, the
prominences are not seen aer the telescope has
been focused, the tuning lever for the internal etalon
may be of help. In this case the knurled ring of the
adjustable tuner should be appropriately turned unl
the sought contrast of the Sun’s chromosphere is
apparent.
Double Stacking
A second etalon for a double stack system will show
increased contrast by narrowing the bandpass to
<0.5Å and provides a spectacular 3D eect showing
increased surface detail. The PST can be double
stacked by adding the Coronado SME-40 double
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stacking lter to the front of the PST. Contact your
Coronado dealer or Meade Instruments directly for
more informaon. Note the SME-40 must be used
with the PST and is not a stand-alone lter.
With the SME-40 double stacking etalon aached to
your PST, adjust the T-max™ lt wheel clockwise unl
the gap of the T-max™ tuner is at a minimum. Rotate
both internal and external RichView™ tuning rings
counter-clockwise against the hard stops. This is the
ideal starng point for the double stacked PST.
Aer the PST is pointed at the Sun and image has
been focused, rotate the external T-max™ tuner lt
wheel in the clockwise direcon. Only adjust the lt of
this tuner unl any internal reecons are posioned
o the image of the Sun and in the least bothersome
posion. With low magnicaon eyepieces, it may be
dicult to remove the internal reecons completely
from the eld of view.
When adjusng the lt on the T-max™ tuner, keep in
mind the least amount of lt used is best as image
quality will begin to suer with excessive lt. You only
need to adjust the internal reecons to the point
where they do not bother your view.
Next, slowly adjust the external RichView™ Tuner
clockwise unl the best contrast is achieved.
Finally adjust the RichView™ tuning ring for the
internal etalon unl the best detail and contrast is
achieved.
Aer these adjustments, you may nd it benecial
to go back and re-adjust the RichView™ tuners again
to make sure you are seeing the best detail possible.
Surface details will generally require one seng,
while prominences will require a dierent seng for
maximum detail.
SME-40 Double Stacking Etalon with
RichView™ Tuning
This manual suits for next models
4
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