Coronado Telescopes

More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Recommended Accessories  · Images of Some Features Price $2,099.00 Focal Length 400mm Focal Ratio f/6.6 Resolution 1.93 arc seconds Aperture 2.4" Net Weight 8 lbs. Warranty 1 year

Double-stacking the etalons improves the scope’s already outstanding resolution and contrast by cutting the single etalon model’s narrow <0.7 Ångstrom passband to a very narrow <0.5 Ångstrom. Narrowing the passband improves the contrast and visibility of subtle disk features, although it slightly reduces the brightness of prominences. For maximum prominence brightness, the front etalon of the SolarMax II 60 DS can be removed to let the scope function as a single etalon solar scope providing a <0.7 Ångstrom passband. The 5mm clear aperture blocking filter is designed for single eyepiece viewing and imaging with small-chip DSI-type CCD cameras and webcams in both single and double etalon configurations.

The scope itself is a brass and black 60mm aperture 400mm focal length f/6.6 refractor that is custom-built to optimize the performance of Coronado’s unique RichView tuning solar filter.

The Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS is designed to do much more for you than merely show you sunspots, as an ordinary white light solar filter can. The SolarMax II 60 DS will reveal the ever-changing tapestry of prominences leaping off the edges of the solar disk, the explosive upheavals of flares on the face of the Sun, and the subtle mottling of granulation across the face of this nearest of stars. And it will let you image all of it in exquisite detail.

The three-piece solar filter consists of a sub-aperture etalon in the body of the scope with a lever-type RichView tuning assembly, a removable second etalon with a rotary dial T-Max tuner that is threaded into the front of the scope, and a 5mm clear aperture blocking filter in the scope’s 1.25" star diagonal. The dual-etalon “double-stacked" solar filter has a <0.5 Ångstrom passband, centered on the 6562.8 Ångstrom H-Alpha line. The very narrow passband width gives you higher contrast on disk details than a single etalon system, with only a slight reduction in prominence brightness. The filters are thermally stable, so there is no drifting off the H-Alpha line as the filters heat up during extended use.

The 5mm clear aperture of the blocking filter portion of H-alpha system built into the star diagonal is designed to provide full disk single eyepiece views of the Sun primarily for visual use and imaging with small-chip DSI-type cameras. There are also 10mm blocking filter versions (single-etalon #SMT60-10 and dual-etalon #SMT60DS-10) that are better-suited for binoviewer use and for imagers who need a wider illuminated field for use with medium chip DSLR and CCD cameras. Also available are 15mm blocking filter versions (single-etalon #SMT60-15 and dual-etalon #SMT60DS-15) that are designed for imagers who need a still-wider illuminated field for use with large chip DSLR and CCD cameras, as well as binoviewing.

The new and revolutionary lever-type RichView tuning assembly of the Meade Coronado SolarMax II DS internal etalon represents a breakthrough in solar observing. This patented system allows very subtle and precise direct tuning of the primary filter etalon by a lever in the side of the scope body to shift the filter’s passband off the H-Alpha line. The removable external solar filter etalon has a separate rotary dial T-Max passband tuner installed that lets you mechanically tilt the external filter’s passband off the H-Alpha line fine-tune the scope’s overall performance.

The joint action of the individually tuned etalons lets you observe Doppler-shifted solar activity with exceptional finesse and subtlety. This lets you determine whether Doppler-shifted features, such as flares, are moving towards you or away from you as they leap off the surface of the Sun. No other commercially available H-Alpha telescope can provide the tuning range and accuracy of the SolarMax II DS. Now you can tune for the highest contrast views of active regions, flares, filaments, and other surface detail at a finger’s touch, then quickly and easily re-tune for prominences on the solar limb.

The SolarMax II 60 DS has a manual 1.25" drawtube that extends for a coarse initial focus. A helical focusing ring around the drawtube then provides the appropriate final fine focusing. This method provides enough back focus to allow both visual observing and imaging with small-chip DSI-type CCD cameras.

A Coronado Cemax 25mm 1.25" eyepiece is standard equipment, providing a magnification of 16x and a 3.25° field. You can use most 1.25" eyepieces with the Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS, as well. Any good quality 50° field Plössls will work well, as their contrast is generally good and their fields are wide and flat. For optimum solar detail, however, consider adding a 12mm (33x) or 18mm (22x) Coronado Cemax eyepiece to your system. Like the supplied 25mm, these Coronado eyepieces use an anti-reflection multicoatings formula that has been optimized for the highest possible contrast during solar viewing of subtle prominence and surface detail. For still higher power views, consider adding the Coronado Cemax 2x Barlow to your system. Like the Cemax eyepieces, its performance and coatings are optimized for solar observing.

A hard carrying case is standard equipment to transport and store the 60mm Coronado SolarMax II DS. A 1/4"-20 thread tripod adapter socket is built into the scope’s clamshell mounting ring to allow using the 6 lb. SolarMax II DS telescope on a suitably-sturdy photo tripod, as well as on most astronomical mounts by adding an optional dovetail mounting plate. The supplied Coronado Sol Ranger Sun Finder makes it easy to center the Sun’s image in the eyepiece. The Sol Ranger connects to the supplied SolarMax II DS clamshell scope mounting ring as can be seen in the image above.