The Sun provides amateur astronomers with one of the few opportunities for daytime observation. Observing the major features of our nearest star requires the use of special telescopes that have a very narrow visible bandwidth, as narrow as 1 × 10-10 m (1 Angstrom) and centered on the absorption line of neutral hydrogen. This makes visible many major features of the Sun's chromosphere. Such narrow-band filters were too expensive for amateur use until the introduction of the Coronado range of solar telescopes. The entry-level Coronado telescope, the PST (Personal Solar Telescope) costs under $500. In this book, a team of contributors show just how much solar observation work can be accomplished with Coronado telescopes, and explain how to get the best from these marvellous instruments. The book shows that Solar prominences, filaments, flares, sunspots, plage and active regions are all visible and can be imaged to produce spectacular solar photographs.

The first introduction to H-alpha solar observation for amateurs Dedicated to the popular Coronado range of H-alpha telescopes Contains superb images of the Sun in H-alpha taken with Coronado telescopes by top amateur astronomers Detailed sections on imaging and image-processing Covers the range of equipment from the entry level PST to advanced, but with emphasis on the low-cost models Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

At around the turn of the millennium, the introduction of the Coronado range of solar telescopes and filters heralded the 'coming of age' of amateur solar astronomy.

Before then, solar astronomy was mostly white-light only. Hydrogen-alpha systems were expensive and difficult to use, but today even the budget-priced Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope) provides a band pass of one Angstrom and is thermally stable. That means that today's amateur solar observers can see and image sunspots, flares, prominences, plage, filaments, and active regions of the Sun, all in amazing detail.

Getting the very best out of a Coronado solar telescope still requires knowledge of specialist techniques and an accumulation of experience, which are what this book provides. In Observing the Sun with Coronado Telescopes, Philip Pugh has assembled a team of contributors who show just how much solar work can be done with Coronado telescopes, and explain how to get the very best from these marvellous instruments.

The spectacular solar images reproduced in this book speak for themselves listen to the voices of the experts!

Zusammenfassung
The use of digital photography and computers has changed all astronomy, not just amateur solar astronomy, and it has certainly made a lot more techniques available for photographing the Sun. Secondly, the use of white light solar filters has improved the detail that can be seen on the solar surface.

Inhalt
Personal Solar Telescope.- MaxScope 90.- Other Coronado Solar Telescopes.- Imaging.- Alternative Products.- Untried Products.- Summary.- The Physics of the Sun.- Coronado Price List.