My first Magazine Sky & Telescope - 03.2019 | Page 63

p Left: Attaching video or deep-sky astronomy cameras can be accomplished using the 1¼-inch eyepiece adapter, though a better option is Day-
star’s Interference Eliminator mount (https://is.gd/cmount), which permits users to slightly tilt the camera to correct for interference banding that
often appears when using monochrome cameras. Right: The Quark unit of the SS60C can be removed and used on most small refractors with the
addition of a 1¼- or 2-inch nosepiece adapter (above).
especially problematic when I attached
a camera to the telescope, making it
virtually impossible to achieve perfect
focus. This is where the versatility of the
SS60C’s removable etalon comes into
play. Users of the Solar Scout hoping to
take sharp images of the Sun would be
most successful by moving its Quark
filter to another, similar-sized refractor
with a traditional focuser.
After some time using the SS60C, I
settled into a routine of observing with
it coupled with my Astrovid StellaCam
3 video camera. This monochrome cam-
era has a small chip, but after spend-
ing a lot of time focusing, I was able
to enjoy close-up, contrasty views on a
small monitor of many prominences,
with occasional filaments, arches, and
active regions visible even during this
period of solar minimum. Likewise, I
tried imaging with the SS60C using a
Celestron Skyris 236M video camera.
The 236M’s small 5.44 × 3.42-mm
chip could capture only about 25%
of the solar disk with no additional
focal reducers. For increasing the fi eld
of view, the manual recommends the
addition of a 1¼-inch-format, screw-on
focal reducer offered by several third-
party manufacturers when imaging
with video cameras. Using one I already
own enabled the camera to see about
75% of the Sun using the Skyris 236M.
With the versatility of the Solar Scout
60C, there’s no need to be discouraged
when a spotless Sun is the rule around
times of deep solar minimum like we’re
experiencing now. The lack of sunspots
doesn’t mean there isn’t a dark, sinuous
fi lament stretching across the Sun’s disk
or dramatic prominences dancing along
the limb. We just have to be tapped
into the hydrogen-alpha world to see
and image those very compelling solar
attractions within the chromosphere.
■ Though he didn’t lose sleep reviewing
the Daystar Solar Scout, Contributing
Editor JOHNNY HORNE may have lost
some weight using the SS60C in the hot
summer Sun at his home in southeastern
North Carolina.
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