Here is a quick review from France of a recently delivered LS35T Solar Telscope.

…”Hello,
This is a quick report of the LS35DX.

Only 35 mm of diameter and what a view!
My first glance through the little Lunt was the first of April and that will
remain engrave in my memories.

After having center the sun in the eyepiece, i turned the helical focuser and I saw one of the most spendid spectacle that our companion star could give us : a huge arch of hydrogen. I was stuck behind the little Lunt and filled with wonder.
After a timeless while, my mind was back and i realised that there is a little wheel recessed into the filter. I moved the wheel carefully and the proms appeared most vivid with more details, that’s laces of Hamper.

It was sumptuous, I saw another big prom and 4 littles proms the same day.
My first rendez-vous with the sun was sucessfull and thanks to Lunt to made such good Halpha instrument for a fair price.

Hervé…”

We’re certainly very please at all the very positive respnses and feedback we are getting. The LS35T solar filtering system was not without it’s technical issues along the way. The main issue being the ability to get a working unit thru UPS and into the customers hands. It’s one thing to build a great scope, test it here and package and ship it. Only to find that it has been destroyed in shipping…

Other issues included our inability to get good etalon and IR coatings. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to deal with vendors who claim to do perfect work, send parts well out of spec without so much as a word.  (more on that in another blog).

The production at Lunt is almost fully ramped up. Just in time!! The Sun is putting on a great show….

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.

With the weather finally clearing up in Tucson, I had a chance to go outside and see what all the Solar fuss has been about.

I would have to say that the current activity is somewhat better than expected. With AR11045 putting on quite the show. I had a few LS35s and LS60T/PTs to test. That all went pretty quickly and I could move on to bigger things. We should have LS60Ts in both the Pressure Tune and Standard versions shipping with the Double Stack package later this week.. A lot of them.. (50s have been the usual hold up).

Unfortunately, the only DS capable system I had to use was the LS152T with the LS160F in DS and single mode. I figured if that was all I had, I would just have to suffer ;)..

The LS152T was setup first on single stack Ha mode. It yielded excellent prom and surface detail. Quite the nice balance for a good overall study of the Sun in Ha.

I removed the Hydrogen-alpha module from the back and replaced it with the Ca-K module.. The active regions really stood out and the system was able to take good magnification.

Jerry Farrar came by to take a first hand look thru the system. You should probably get his opinion directly, but I do believe he was very pleased. He has one on backorder. I think he almost fell over when I told him he would be getting his in a few weeks..

The LS160F was added to put it thru it’s paces. There will be more on the LS160F over the next few weeks, we have a few shipping very soon.  (The LS160F will be the largest Etalon in the world). I think it was at this point that I went from testing to observing.  The active areas stood out in awesome 3D like detail. It’s been worth the wait, and I am very very pleased with the end product.

Things are really starting to come together. It’s an absolute joy to be able to view such spectacular views thru the new generation solar systems. Despite all the hard work and the numerous setbacks, I can finally begin shipping what will be the top of the line Lunt Solar Systems.

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.

Images thru Lunt Solar Products

Eduard Garcia-Ribera sent a few image taken thru some Lunt Solar Filters and Telescopes.

The CaK image was taken thru a B600 Telescope.

The Hydrogen-alpha image was taken thru a LS100T single stack dedicated scope.

He is showing a white light image for reference.

Thanks very much for the submissions.

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 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.

I have just been informed that the LS35T is now shipping from STOCK!!

You can now get an LS35T by contacting us at sales@luntsolarsystems.com

Thank you to Savio Fong for sending this excellent image of the Annular Eclipse from Hong Kong. This image was taken with an LS35T!

The LS35T is probably a perfect example of a product that I fully espected to get from design to Customer in a few months, but ended up taking almost a year.

As many will know the main issue was the ability to ship the product and have it arrive in good working condition. For those that received their LS35T un-damaged, they have been very pleased with the performance. However, Lunt received alot of calls from Customers who’s LS35T was damaged via decontacting, bent screws, and even broken ERFs. This despite the fact that we box the scope in fitted foam, in a box, in foam end caps in another box. Shipping thru the standard shipping companies has simply been down right difficult. When they state that a product needs to be safe for a 6 foot drop, they mean it. The first guy to pick up the box launches it into the back of the truck from 6 feet away.. (don’t get me started, it hurts)..

Anyway, after much mechanical re-deisgn, the use of different potting products, locking screws, and mechanical stops, we have finally achieved a very high success rate on product survival.. Not to mention a few tweeks to the optical design along the way ;)

Of the couple of hundred LS35Ts we recently shipped, (cross our fingers) only a few have not survived the gauntlet.

Of the Customers recieving the LS35T, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Images like the above are proof that the system really does perform very well (is this where I say “told you so?”). The ongoing decision of discontinuing the product (which we have done for 6 months) are being re-thought, and it does look like we can start to accept new orders for the product.

As you might expect there is still a few months leadtime on new orders as we work to remove the backlog.

Some have waited for a year. We appreciate your ongoing patience, and certainly hope that you find the product worth the wait.

In closing.. It has, and will ALWAYS be our policy to hold product back if we feel that it does not reflect the performance and safety that is so important.  Solar Telescopes are NOT your average Telescope. They contain many highly specified, highly sensitive optical elements. The amount of technology contained within even the basic scope is amazing and goes far beyond that of even the most advanced night time scope. We are working on shipping backlogged product as fast as we can, but will continue to maintain the highest level of quality in every product.

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 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.

For those who have googled “what’s an etalon?” the returned results outlining complex looking optical equations, mathmatical relationships, and technical references probably didn’t do much to answer the question. Unless you are an Optical Physicist of course. (I love that stuff)
 
An etalon refers to an interference type filter typically used in Solar Telescopes because of the desire for an ultra narrow bandpass.

An etalon is probably one of the simplest designs for an optical filter utilizing some of the most precise optical specifications. Due to it both being simple and the need for precision, there are many compromises that can influence the quality of an etalon filter.

An etalon is comprised of 2 flat and parallel optical surface that have been optically coated with a high reflective dielectric layer with the high reflector layer peaking at the desired bandpass point for best results. These optical surfaces are seperated by a gap. This gap can be either air or a solid material. The light resonates in the gap by internal reflection off the highly reflective layers on the surfaces. Thru interference at this gap, only light meeting the correct angle of incidence to the surface and is not “interfered with” can pass, all other light is lost.

The main parameters that define an etalon are:

Bandpass: This is the width of the curve that defines the transmitance of the filter at 50% of the total transmision of the filter. An etalon’s transmission has a broad base and a sharp peak. Typically the peak transmission should be between 80-90%, so the bandpass of the etalon will be measured between the 40-45% points. For Solar applications it is generally accepted that the lower this number, the better. Typical Solar Etalons have a bandpass of <1.0.