Re: Vixen VMC110L F9.4 Maksutov as Solar Scope?
Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:06 am
A photo of the set-up would help....
At this stage I assume you are using the PST Black box with the original PST blocking filter (?)
This is only a 5mm aperture and designed for a focal length of 400mm - the mod really needs a larger blocking filter to give best FOV coverage.
Generally a 10 or 15mm BF is recommended.
If the existing PST ITF is still in good condition, there's nothing to be gained by removing it and replacing with an alternative.
The final filter assembly is made up of two elements - the front ITF and the rear blocking filter. The ITF acts as a "mini erf" and suppresses any resonance bandwidths. The blocking (or sort filter) separates the bandwidth "comb" of frequencies and only allows the narrow Ha bandwidth to go through to the camera/ eyepiece. The majority of failure in (all) solar scopes is the ITF, not the blocking filter.
At this stage I assume you are using the PST Black box with the original PST blocking filter (?)
This is only a 5mm aperture and designed for a focal length of 400mm - the mod really needs a larger blocking filter to give best FOV coverage.
Generally a 10 or 15mm BF is recommended.
If the existing PST ITF is still in good condition, there's nothing to be gained by removing it and replacing with an alternative.
The final filter assembly is made up of two elements - the front ITF and the rear blocking filter. The ITF acts as a "mini erf" and suppresses any resonance bandwidths. The blocking (or sort filter) separates the bandwidth "comb" of frequencies and only allows the narrow Ha bandwidth to go through to the camera/ eyepiece. The majority of failure in (all) solar scopes is the ITF, not the blocking filter.