Coronado Telescope Leaflet

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Dear Customer, Thank you for your purchase of a 
Coronado Personal Solar Telescope
 and welcome 
to the ever-growing field of solar observing. The 
PST
 you are holding is the result of over 40 years 
of optical engineering experience and our 
determination to provide affordable Solar 
 instrumentation to the amateur community. We hope 
you enjoy our Sun and will find the PST
 to be an 
exciting and addictive tool. Please take advantage of 
our photo gallery and chat group, ‘Solar Chat’, both 
at www.coronadofilters.com
Coronado Technology Group
1674 S. Research Loop, Ste 436, 
Tucson, AZ, 85710
Tel: (520) 740-1561    
Fax: (520) 624-5083
Toll Free in USA: 1-866-SUNWATCH
Viewing the Sun
The PST
 has been designed for the easiest 
possible use by experienced and novice amateurs 
alike. 
1. You have been provided with a 12.5mm  
eyepiece. Coronado
 guarantees the performance 
of this and any CEMAX
 eyepiece. It is possible 
that other 1.25” eyepieces will not come to focus. 
Begin your set up by inserting an eyepiece and 
adjusting the thumbscrew until secured.
2. The PST
 has been developed with an internal 
version of our Sol Ranger
 sun-spotting device. 
Looking at the PST
 head on you will notice a small 
opening on the face of the PST
. This is the light 
input for the Sol Ranger
 and must remain 
unobstructed. Adding a SM40/T-Max
 will obstruct 
the Sol Ranger
.
3. Along the top of the PST
 is a small opaque 
window. The light from the Sol Ranger
 will project 
a bright but harmless ball of light on this window 
when the sun is lined up. Try to get the ball of light 
into the dead center for best alignment.
4. Once the telescope is pointed at the sun you 
need only to adjust the focus knob on the lower rear 
portion of the PST
. This is the only external portion 
of the PST
 you will ever need to adjust. All of the 
focusing is done via this knob. By looking through 
the eyepiece and adjusting the focusing knob you 
will be able to bring the Sun into sharp focus – you 
will know you are focused when the edge of the disk 
appears solid and sharply defined. You will need to 
adjust the focus for different focal length eyepieces.
If you plan on using a mount other than the MALTA
tabletop mount you may skip this section. The PST
 
has been thoughtfully designed to attach to any 
standard ¼ 20 pitch thread; this is the standard 
mounting thread for Astronomy and Photography.
MALTA
Coronado
 has designed a portable, stable, and 
rugged tabletop mount for use with the PST. By 
removing certain sections of the custom foam 
packaging, see the drawing to your left, the disas-
sembled MALTA
 will fit in with the PST
 to provide 
an all-inclusive package for easy transportation and 
set up.
1. Once you have attached the MALTA
 to the 
PST
 you only need to remove the legs for return-
ing the PST
 to its case. The mount remains 
attached. 
2. Secure the mount head by threading the tension 
screw through the swivel base and into the mount 
head from the top down.
3. Attach the individual legs by threading them to 
the swivel body. 
Adjusting the Manual Altitude-Azimuth (MALTA
mount.
1. By adjusting the tension screw the mount will be 
easily manipulated along the Azimuth or horizontal 
axis. Re-tightening the tension screw will hold the 
PST
 in place.
2. The silver tension screw on the mount head will 
adjust the Altitude or vertical axis and will hold the 
PST
 firm when tightened down.
3. See the PST
 instructions for using the built in 
Sol Ranger
 for spotting the sun.
Storage 
If you have not purchased the optional travel case 
for the Coronado PST
 you may skip this section.
Coronado has designed the packaging for your 
PST
 to fit directly into the optional carrying case.  
Simply remove the telescope and accessories and 
lift out the foam,  a section from the top and right 
hand side will have to be removed as shown below.  
Slide the foam into the travel case with the cutouts 
facing up and replace the PST and accessories. 
Follow the color key and diagram.
Remove for use with optional 
hard case.
Remove for storing MALTA™ mount
Eyepiece storage.
PST™ storage
Coronado Safety Warnings
As with all of our solar viewing products the PST
 
has been built with safety as the top priority. This 
instrument was tested and sealed at our facilities as 
a complete, safe, and working unit. Do not attempt 
to disassemble the PST
™ 
Doing so will void your 
warranty and may compromise your safety. 
Coronado is obsessed with safety and you should 
be too. Details of our safety specifications can be 
found at www.coronadofilters.com.  Never use a 
solar filter unless the manufacturer is able to 
provide such information. Before each use make 
sure the PST
 does not appear damaged in any 
way – if you have any questions please contact 
Coronado or your dealer. It is possible to attach an 
SM40/T-Max
 combination to your PST
 to  further 
reduce the bandpass. In the majority of cases the 
SM40
 will "match" optically with the PST
 to 
provide views at ~<0.6Å. In a few situations you 
may need to return both PST
 & SM40
 to the 
manufacturer for "matching". There is a nominal  
charge for this service.
  
Cleaning
Cleaning the PST
 should be done with a fine 
camel hair brush to remove any dirt from the 
objective. High quality lens cleaner and a soft cloth 
can also be used on the objective and the body 
itself. Take care of the PST
 as you would any high 
quality optical instrument and the views will last a 
lifetime.
Product Specifications 
Aperture – 40mm
Focal Length – 400mm
F/ Ratio – F/10
Bandwidth – <1.0Å
Thermal Stability – 0.005Å/C
Blocking – Full blocking >10
5
 from 
EUV to far IR
What You Will See With 
The Coronado Personal Solar Telescope
The filtering of the PST
 isolates a specific band-
width of light called Hydrogen Alpha. This allows 
one to view the Sun’s Chromosphere. The image of 
the sun will be a deep red across the entire disk. Be 
aware that it can take time to ‘train’ one’s eye for 
H-Alpha viewing. The more you use the PST
 the 
better your eye will get at discerning detail in the 
Chromosphere. The sun is constantly changing and 
will provide a new and dynamic view from day to 
day and hour to hour. This is a list of general terms 
for the features you will see.
Prominences – H-Alpha emissions features 
projecting beyond the limb of the sun, consisting of 
complex clouds or streamers of gas above or in the 
chromosphere.
Filaments – Prominences seen against the face of 
the sun, appearing as long narrow dark streamers 
or diffuse complex dark areas in H-Alpha light. 
Filaments often mark areas of magnetic shearing
Active Region - A localized, transient volume of 
the solar atmosphere in which plages, sunspots, 
and flares may be observed. Active regions are the 
result of enhanced magnetic fields and appear 
darker than the surrounding areas with a roughly 
circular shape.
Plage – patchy H-Alpha brightening on the solar 
disk, usually found in or near active regions, which 
can last for several days. Plage is irregular in shape 
and variable in brightness, marking areas of nearly 
vertical emerging or reconnecting magnetic field 
lines.
Sunspots – Moderate to large spots usually consist 
of a darker central region (umbra) and a lighter halo 
consisting of many short fine fibrils (penumbra).
Flares - A sudden eruption of energy in the solar 
atmosphere lasting minutes to hours, from which 
radiation and particles are emitted.
Solar image by Jack Newton-www.jacknewton.com
PST 
Personal Solar Telescope
 
Instruction Manual
α
Sol Ranger
™ 
built in 
Sun finder