The sun has slowly been starting to kick up once again and imagers across the globe have been capturing amazing shots!

Peter Desypris of Greece shot these awesome up close images using his LS60THa Double Stack.

Please keep sending in your images and we will post them here on our blog!

These packages can be designed for use by beginners thru advanced.

Introducing the LS50 Hydrogen-alpha system. To kick off the company we offered the 50mm aperture (no central obstruction) integrally tuned etalon for use on any customer supplied refractor.

System includes the B600 blocking filter standard which provides full disk images on telescopes up to 540mm focal length. Larger blocking filters suitable for longer focal length telescopes are also available options.

These Hydrogen-alpha Filters are designed to retrofit (adapters required) the customer supplied telescope for use during the day. They are easily removeable so that the scope can continue to be used for night observing.
Several sizes can be matched to the existing scope aperture. Systems include front mounted filter and the required rear mounted 2″ or 1.25″ blocking diagonal (dependant upon focuser size).

Because the LS50 has an estimated bandpass of <0.70 Angstroms it is capable of providing high contrast views of both surface and edge detail. Adding an additional etalon system will reduce the bandpass to ~<0.50 (dependant upon scope) allowing for higher resolution viewing and/or imaging.

Customer Solar Images:

• Paolo Porcellana
• John Chumack
• Alan Clitherow
• Savio Fong
• Jim Ferreira
• Eric Africa
• Your Image Gallery here?

For more images visit the Lunt Solar Image Gallery

LS50F Specifications: (single filter)

• Optical Aperture: 50mm
• Etalon: Internal <0.70 Angstrom
• Tuning: Tilt
• Image Scale: Focal Length/110 x 50 = Image Scale
• Focal Length: Customer Telescope
• Storage: Aluminum finished hard case with fitted foam
• Weight: 2 lbs (~1kg)
• Starting at: US$1,346.00 (B600)

Required Blocking Filter: (see “blocking filters”)

• B600 for standard visual use (included)
• B1200 for larger field of view and imaging applications (upgrade)
• B1800 for larger field of view and imaging applications (upgrade)
• B3400 for larger field of view and imaging applications (upgrade)

Required Accessories: (see “accessories“)

• Typically an adapter plate will be required to attach a Lunt Solar Filter to the front of a customer supplied telescope. These adapter are in stock for the more common user scopes, but can be custom made to your specific requirement.
• No adapter is needed to add a LS50/DS module to a LS50F.
• More information see: “adapter plates“.

Optional Accessories: (see “accessories“)

• Sun Finder: “TeleVue Sol Searcher“.
• Eyepiece: “Lunt Zoom Eyepiece“.

You may also be interested in: (see “merchandise“)

• Lunt Solar Hat
• Lunt Solar Polo or Tank Top Shirt

But there’s more……

The LS50F is available in many optional variations, here are a few examples to aid in description and part numbers for pricing.

LS50FHa1/B600
* Standard system with B600 visual use blocking filter for 1.25″ focuser and up to 540mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,346.00

LS50FHa2/B600
* Standard system with B600 visual use blocking filter for 2″ focuser and up to 540mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,346.00

LS50FHa1/B1200
* Standard system with B1200 imaging upgraded blocking filter for 1.25” focuser and up to 1080mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,646.00

LS50FHa2/B1200
* Standard system with B1200 imaging upgraded blocking filter for 2” focuser and up to 1080mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,646.00

LS50FHa1/B1800
* Standard system with B1800 imaging upgraded blocking filter for 1.25″ focuser and up to 1620mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,996.00

LS50FHa2/B1800
* Standard system with B1800 imaging upgraded blocking filter for 2″ focuser and up to 1620mm focal length
Retail Price: US$1,996.00

LS50FHa2/B3400
* Standard system with B3400 imaging upgraded blocking filter for 2″ focuser and up to 3060mm focal length
Retail Price: US$2,796.00

A 50mm Doublestack module is required to reduce the bandpass of the optical systems to ~<0.50 Angstroms

LS50FHa Double Stack (matched)
* Double-Stack Etalon for all LS50FHa Filter and Lunt Telescopes
Retail Price: US$998.00

LS50F shown with Optional LS50F/DS module.
Using the DS module on a LS50F filter or as a DS module for our LS60T series scopes will reduce the bandpass to ~<0.50 Angstoms.

These part numbers can be looked up in the Price List or call for more information.

You may also be interested in:

LS100FHa (see “LS100F“)

LS60T Basic Package  (see “LS60T“)

LS60T/PT Visual Package (see “visual package“)

LS60TDS50/PT Imaging Package (see “imaging package“)

LS80T/PT (see “New LS80T/PT“)

LS100THa (see “LS100T“)

LS152THa (see “LS152T“)

Pre-orders will be shipped in the order they are received.
Prices are subject to change without notice.

No-one brings you closer to our nearest Star than Lunt Solar Systems… the next generation of Solar Instrumentation.

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 $598 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.

The sun has been in a deep slumber for the past several years, showing very little signs of activity.  Lately this sleeping giant has begun its journey towards what could be a very impressive solar max.  Over the past view days I have seen countless images of several massive filaments and the activity around sunspot 1092.

Below is an image from solar imager Rick Trommer.  Rick captured this impressive image with his LS60THaDS50.  The two massive filaments can be seen as two snake like bodies on the right while in the bottom left sunspot 1092 is quietly gliding across the solar disk.

Be sure to keep an eye on sun as things are just starting to get interesting again!  Please keep sending in your images!

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.

Yesterday (7/28/2010) a massive prominence erupted from the surface of the sun! Images have been appearing all over the web of this massive event.

The images below were shot my amateur astronomer Jim Ferreira with his LS50F and DMK21 camera.  “Half a dozen or so very bright, very small spots that brightened and faded in less than a minute,” Ferreira described.

The lower image shows an awesome time laps of the prominence.  These images and many more of Jim Ferreira’s work can be seen on his website: Astrophotography by Jim Ferreira

The sun is really starting to show signs of life, a good sign for solar observers!  Be sure to check it out and keep sending in your images!

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.

H-Alpha is red, Ca-K is blue, and for Jim Ferreira its all a view in black and white.  Located in Livermore, California, Jim has been producing high resolution H-Alpha images of the heavens for quite sometime.  From deep sky objects to our nearest star, his images bring back the old school feel of simplistic black and white while providing views with remarkable detail!

Photo by Jim Ferreira

While many of his images are moments frozen in time, not all are still!  Lately Jim has been dabbling with the art of time laps photography with the aid of his DMK21 video camera.  The ability to show massive prominences dancing across the sun is truly something to behold!  But how does he capture such images?  Currently Jim uses an LS50F attached to him SV102ED refractor, he someday hopes to add an LS75F or LS100F to use for higher magnification images and video while using the LS50F for full disk images.

Jim’s SV102ED with the LS50F and piggy backed white light scope.

Unlike other imagers Jim chooses to image solely in black and white, but why?  “I do very little viewing with an eyepiece”, he says.   Most if not all of his viewing time takes place at the monitor of his computer.  He keeps his images black and white to match what would be seen in the eyepiece.  “It’s also kind’a an old school thing”, says Jim.   His inspiration for black and white images dates back to his childhood while watching time laps images of solar flares in science class.

Jim continues to produce some amazing images, much of them can be seen on the popular astronomy forum website Cloudy Nights.  He also posts all his work including his dramatic night time images on his personal website: Astrophotography by Jim Ferreira.  Check it out and keep an eye out as he produces more of his signature black and white images!

Photo by Jim Ferreira

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.