ALL solar telescopes on earth, officially obsolete. IRIS

[Mike]

Hello Apollo, I don't think JP ever thought he had the biggest or the best solar scope. His scope is a 228mm refractor with a modified PST etalon and the Paleske's scope has a 225mm mirror. While the Paleske scope is impressive, it's a completely different animal. JP's scope has a lens designed and produced by Istar specifically for H alpha transmission. It's also portable and probably didn't cost anything close to the Paleske scope. Besides, as far as aperture, JP has him beat at 228mm

Solar scopes obsolete? As far as visual, that statement had been true for some years. However, there are solar scopes doing valuable science all over the world. We produced a large lens specifically for solar work and it's being used in a research facility in France. Earth based solar research is alive and well.

As far as amateur solar telescopes, H alpha interest is at an all time high. We've had more requests and inquiries for lenses produced for H alpha then ever before. Andy Lunt said in July that Lunt production was going full tilt especially since prices have come down so far.

I took a good look at the images produced by Paleske. My "opinion" remains the same. JP's telescope and images are impressive and outstanding for an amateur astronomer. The majority of solar observers and imagers are on the "Solarchat" forum and JP's scope produced quite a stir. I think he designed and built a beautiful telescope. One of the leading European astronomy journals just did an article on him and his new scope to be published soon. According to the amateur astronomy community, JP's telescope is on a large scale.

Mike

[astromanuk]

I found this thread a little strange.  Is Apollo suggesting that we all give up on solar observing?

There are few professional observatories that have the capability that he suggests, but that does not stop them doing cutting edge science from the earths surface.  Will this new spacecraft stop me using my 70mm Solarscopes 0.5 Angstrom on a  TV 76? No, I will continue to take my telescope out every morning the sun is up and shining and delight in the changes I can see taking place in real time.

One may as well argue that astrophotography is worthless as we have the hubble. The space telescope does not diminish beauty of pictures I see posted on The World at night.  I love seeing the latest professional images, but for me nothing will compete with the connectedness I feel with the universe when visual observing and having actual photons from the object hitting the back of my eye.  I am sure that this is what most amateurs feel.

I don't think Apollo should give up his research and development of innovative solar filters.  Del Woods and David Lunt were two of the most innovative people working in the field and I had the pleasure of discussing solar filters with David on a number of occasions.  His dream of enabling amateurs and university departments to partake in solar research drove him to bring the costs down.  Don't forget that monitoring solar activity can awaken an individuals interest in solar physics that will lead them to a career in solar research.  Who built this satellite? I bet amongst the team who designed and constructed it were those who took up astronomy in their childhood.

I believe that long term solar monitoring from the earths surface is still of scientific value.  So I say don't be disheartened Apollo, you never know where your researches will lead you and others in the future.

[Mike]

Apollo, the fact is solar satellites are getting better images and doing break through research. I also agree that Harold's $100,000 solar scope has higher resolution (.01 angstrom) than JP's refractor. You stated that you were "laughing out loud" at JP not even being "on the scale or in the playbook." Educating us to the existence of the impressive Paleske scope is good. Making a direct comparison to JP's is not (in my opinion). I find great satisfaction observing and imaging with my little Lunt 60mm double stack at .5 angstrom. I am currently educating myself on the fundamentals of solar scope construction with a modified PST etalon. I will be building a new 150mm H alpha solar scope using a 150mm F12 Istar lens designed and produced for that purpose. I expect a huge jump in resolution. I'm not kidding myself or anybody else about what I can expect if I compare my proposed 150mm H alpha scope with a $100,000 scope or a billion dollar solar satellite. I simply refuse to believe all amateur solar observing and imaging should cease because you say we have nothing to contribute or cannot achieve the resolution of far more expensive scopes or satellites. Should we stop observing and imaging Jupiter and Saturn? After all, there are satellites orbiting those planets achieving resolution no ground based telescope will ever meet. Should we forget Mars since there are now rovers there? Why bother observing or imaging Comet Ison? After all the huge ground based telescopes, Hubble and Mars rovers all have far greater imaging capabilities than we amateur do. You maybe "missing the point." Or, perhaps have lost the thrill. I for one will continue observing and imaging the moon, planets, sun and deep space objects until I can't see anymore. And the fact there exists technology that blows my equipment away will never dampen my spirit. This post is in no way meant to silence your opinion or observations. In fact, we welcome your posts.

Mike

[Mike]

All images taken with a little 60mm refractor