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More Lunt Solar Systems

The Very Latest News

Feb. 4th.
Many items are now shipping from stock!! Check out the catalog area for more info.

Jan. 28th
You can now buy and sell new and used items in the Lunt Forum located in our Discussion area.

Jan. 19th
The new blog/Community area is Live!!
For those using the blogspot URL, please note the new destination.

Jan. 19th
I have just been informed that Lunt Solar is now shipping the LS35T from STOCK!!!
Visit the Catalog Area of the main site for more info...

Image of the week

Here is the Solar Image of the Week.
Thanks to: Dodi
LS60T/Ha Single Stack

Recent image of AR11045.

Real Time Images: The Very Latest from SOHO

SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind.

Links

Lunt Solar Home Page
Visit our Home Webpage to view our products and picture galleries
Lunt Solar Chat Forum
Open discussion forum regarding Solar equipment. A great place to ask questions.
Buy & Sell Used Telescopes
It's free to view or list your used astronomy equipment for sale.

Event Calendar

Winter Star Party (FLORIDA)
February 8th thru the 12th

Lunt Solar will not be officially attending the WSP this year. However, Alan Traino is going and will be taking some Lunt Solar products for demonstration.

NEAF (NEW YORK)
April 17th and 18th

We welcome you to join us at America's premier astronomy show. For updates and more info visit our blog.

Astronomy League Annual Convention (Arizona)
June 25th and 26th

ALCON will be held in Tucson, Arizona this year. It's in our backyard and we will be there!

Explore

Categories

Archives

The Sun is our Star!

.......and as you would expect, our Star is hot, bright, dynamic, and sometimes quite violent.

At 93 million miles away, we are ideally placed at a point where the Sun provides just enough warmth and energy essential to our living planet, Earth.
At only 93 million miles, the Sun is close enough for us to view it's surface thru a relatively inexpensive scope from the comfort and relative safety (Sunscreen please) of our backyards on a clear and warm day.

What! Astronomy during the day? Lunt Solar wants to show you how.

References

Prominences:
These look like eruptions from the edge of the Solar disk. Prominences can be small spikey looking details, or large cloud-like detail with fine feather-like features.

They are, in fact, ionized Hydrogen-alpha emissions being projected from the linb.

Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the Mesosphere, and extend outward into the Sun's Troposhere.
They typically measure many earth diameters.

Filaments:
These are strin-like features on the surface of the Sun.

At high resultion they take on a 3D effect due to the coller aspect of the suspended filament contrasted against the bright, hotter Sun.

They are actually prominences being viewed against the surface.

Spicules
A Spicule is a dynamic jet of gas about 500km long.
They move outward at about 20km/second thru the Chromosphere.

Father Angelo Secchi of the Vatican Observatory discovered them in 1877.

The Chromosphere is entirely composed of Spicules. These features can be seen as "fur"around the edge of the disk.


There's still lots to look at. Should be more coming around in the next few days.

February 17th, 2010

We are pleased to announce that Lunt Solar Systems will be sponsoring the 2010 ALCon event in Tucson, Arizona. June 24 thru the 26th.. An opportunity for anyone curious about the night sky to come play and learn.

SAVE THE DATE!!!

You will not want to miss this event. Lunt Solar will be hosting it’s 2010 ASC (Arizona Solar Conference) in conjunction with the OLCon event at the Hilton East location. A great venue for both day and night astronomers..

Registration to either event, gets you into both…

A few quick announcements that I want to get out:

Kids are FREE!. That’s right, school kids are invited to attend, look thru the solar scopes, and check out the vendor exhibits. We will have giveaways and educational (okay.. cool posters etc) materials, as well as some really cool door prizes.

We will be having some entertaining exhibits for both kids and adults.

If you are a teacher and would like to bring some kids for a few hours, or the entire day.. You are WELCOME. Please contact us to make arrangements, we will be happy to help.

Some of the exciting activities are still in the planning stages, but please check back often to get updates on the event. Simply search OLCon or ASC at left to grab the posts.

More information can be found on the ALCon site: http://alcon2010.astroleague.org/

Rooms are available at the Hilton East, Tucson at a discount rate of $72 per night. You can reserve your room by simply calling the hotel at +1.520.721.5600. An online reservation link will be available soon.

For more information, or to be added to our e-mail list for this event, please contact Rikki at sales@luntsolarsystems.com

Over the next week we will formalize the registration process and provide much more info about the event and the planned activities.

Tucson is a great vacation destination, and June will be warm and beautiful. Make plans to join us at the ALCon/ASC event and take advantage of the surrounding tourist activities.

February 15th, 2010

Above is a picture taken just today by the SOHO Satellite. Yep, that’s a picture from today, and not 10 years ago.

November last year I started one of my first blogs with the statements that Solar Minimum was over. After several years of zero Solar activity it was beginning to look like the Sun may never wake up. However, my daily testing of Lunt products had indicated that there were growing signs of life. But not even I would have predicted the current level of activity in such a short time?

Our Star has certainly woken up. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but the recent increase in activity is almost surprising. In a period of a couple of months we have gone from the odd Sunspot every few months, to what is now upwards of 6 active regions with multiple Sunspot groups.. Amazing!!!. Several months ago even the smallest active region seen on the Sun today would have been cause for chat on the forums. As you can see from the above image (surface rotates left to right) there is more on the way. And while the Northern area of the Sun has been the most active, we can now see significant signs of life in the Southern areas as well.

It sure is fun to “test” the scopes again.

There have got to be people out there who have watched the last Maximum turn to Minimum, and are now watching the new Miminum turn to Maximum with a little awe. I would like to hear about other people’s experiences and get some feedback on daily observations. There’s probably never been a better time to be in, and promote, the hobby of Solar Observation. There’s also the great and exciting opportunity to study and research the birth of this new cycle.

What effect will the new Solar Maximum have on Planet Earth?

You don’t need a SOHO Satellite to view and study the Sun in detail. Today’s Solar Telescopes and Solar Filters have advanced the technology of backyard observing to a high level of research capability. New generation Lunt Systems are research grade tools within reach of anyone who wants to watch the breathtaking power of our nearest Star. I had a person just yesterday ask “how quickly does the Sun’s surface change?”.. Well in the time it took to read this, the Surface has cetainly changed. These Active Regions are highly dynamic, they hold the potential for unpredictable and explosive behaviour. Small flares are probable, large flares are seldom,,,, they’re not a question of “if” they are now a question of “when”.

What are YOU missing?

About Lunt Solar Systems LLC…

Lunt Solar Systems is a manufacturing and sales facility located in Tucson, Arizona. Lunt Solar design, fabricate, assemble, and test solar telescopes and solar filters. Whether you are looking for a dedicated solar telescope or a solar filter for attachment to you own astronomy telescope, we can help. Solar telescopes models start at $499 for an LS35T (telescope) or the only slightly more expensive LS50F (filter), all the way thru the 152T and the 160F. Solar observing is both fun and educational. Don’t miss out on Solar Maximum. Feel free to contact us with question or comments and we’d be happy to help.

Posted in..... lunt solar
February 11th, 2010

Some of you may recognize the Bino platform. It is the unique design from Howie Glatter. It was designed to accept the PST, but as you can see, it readily accepts the LS35Ts. (I need to let Howie know that I have his set ready :)

We had a customer and his wife come by to personally check out the system that he had just purchased. As you can see, the system even has 2 zoom eyepieces which worked remarkably well. I was very pleased with the view after everything was aligned. It really gives a nice 3D feel to the Sun. Doppler shifting slightly allowed the eyes to merge the images, giving an impression of even more detail than thru a single system.

The LS35T/Deluxe Package comes standard with the mounting foot for the Bino Platform. However, if your inter pupilary distance is anything like mine, the tilt mechanisms on the LS35T front etalon assembly will need to be shaved a little.

If you are interested in the LS35T for Bino use, give us a call, or drop us an e-mail. We would be happy to get you a matched set and do the modifications for you. Contact Howie for a Bino Platform and you’re off and running.

About Lunt Solar Systems LLC…

Lunt Solar Systems is a manufacturing and sales facility located in Tucson, Arizona. Lunt Solar design, fabricate, assemble, and test solar telescopes and solar filters. Whether you are looking for a dedicated solar telescope or a solar filter for attachment to you own astronomy telescope, we can help. Solar telescopes models start at $499 for an LS35T (telescope) or the only slightly more expensive LS50F (filter), all the way thru the 152T and the 160F. Solar observing is both fun and educational. Don’t miss out on Solar Maximum. Feel free to contact us with question or comments and we’d be happy to help.

Lunt Solar Systems LLC

2520 N. Coyote Drive
Suite 111
Tucson AZ 85745

luntsolarsystems.com

Telephone: 1-877-344-7348
Telephone: 520-344-7348
Fax: 520-344-7352
e-mail: sales@luntsolarsystems.com