After about 10-years delay, I decided to recommence H-alpha solar imaging. For that purpose, I assembled a modified Coronado PST telescope, coupled with a TS 102 f/7 refractor. The modification was made with an aid of a specially designed afocal corrector lens ("Gomal") installed in front of the Coronado objective. The purpose of the corrector is to converst the incoming light into a parallel beam before it enters the Coronado. The system was introduced and popularized by Russian astrophotographer
Alexey Prudnikov. "Gomal" correctors were custom-produced in small amount at the NPZ optical plant in Novosibirsk. I am happy to own one of these rare optical gatgets. About 10 years ago, I used Coronado PST coupled with a 80 mm f/7 refractor, and was really impressed with the system performance. Upgrade to a 100 mm Solarscope afforded even more impressive visual views, along with marvellous photo-quality.
Here is a first-light picture, showing subsiding active region 2765 close to the solar limb on the morning, 14 July 2020 (7:30 UT). The raw video was taken during my visit to
Estonian People's Observatory (Munalaskme, Estonia).
Processing details: 16-bit raw video, stacked in AS!3 (600 of 3000 frames), deconvolved in AstraImage. Inverted pseudocolor version. Image B: pseudocolor version.
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