My first Magazine Sky & Telescope - 03.2019 | Página 60

S&T Test Report by Johnny Horne
Daystar’s Solar Scout 60C
Explore the Sun’s chromosphere with this dedicated hydrogen-alpha telescope.
U.S. Price: $1,295
daystarfi lters.com
What We Like
Compact size
Etalon can be used on other
scopes
What We Don’t Like
Image-shift when focusing
Band tuning slow to respond
WHEN DAYSTAR’S 60-MM Solar Scout
arrived for review, it was a cloudless day.
It was also a sunspotless day . . . not
even a tiny one visible.
For two weeks in July when I had
hoped to enjoy views of the Sun through
this special hydrogen-alpha (Hα) solar
telescope, there were no sunspots!
According to spaceweather.com , you’d
have to go back to 2009 for a longer
stretch of spotless days. We are cur-
rently in the midst of solar minimum,
the lowest point of activity in the Sun’s
11-year cycle.
But as users of properly equipped
solar instruments know, a blank Sun
in white light doesn’t mean there
isn’t an exciting view to be had of the
chromosphere. This second layer of the
Sun’s atmosphere is normally hidden
from view, with the exception of brief
q The Daystar 60mm Solar Scout (SS60C) is
a compact solar telescope with an integrated
Fabry-Pérot etalon used to observe the Sun in
hydrogen-alpha light.
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M A RCH 2 019 • SK Y & TELESCOPE
p Both SS60C and SS60P models come with a
heavy-duty waterproof carry case with plenty of
space for storing additional accessories.
periods during a total solar eclipse. But
telescopes equipped with a special filter
reveal the chromosphere in the light of
Hα, that tiny slice of the solar spectrum
around 656.3 nanometers.
Until recently, my experience with
observing the Sun through Hα filters
was limited to peering into eyepieces
at amateur gatherings and on solar-
eclipse tours. I was awed by those
direct views of intricate detail on the
solar disk and dramatic prominences at
the Sun’s limb. But back home I settled
for white-light views using Mylar-
like fi lters. That all changed with the
arrival of the Daystar Solar Scout.
This dedicated 60-mm solar scope
is built strictly for observing the Sun
in Hα light. The Solar Scout is also
available in an 80-mm model (SS80)
as well as the less-expensive SS60-ds.
Apart from the SS60-ds, each Solar
Scout is available in two versions.
The chromosphere models (SS60C
and SS80C) incorporate a narrow
0.6- to 0.3-angstrom bandpass that
shows fi laments and active regions
around sunspots on the solar disk as
well as prominences along the limb
60mm Daystar
Solar Scout