Detailed information about this product's features  T-Max passband tuner
This dual etalon Coronado SolarMax 60 consists of a brass and black 400mm focal length 60mm aperture f/6.6 refractor with a dual etalon Hydrogen-Alpha solar filter. "Double-stacking" a Coronado solar filter uses two etalons in series to sharpen the filter’s normal <0.7 Ångstrom passband to a very narrow <0.5 Ångstrom centered on the 6562.8 Ångstrom H-Alpha line. This improves the filter’s contrast on subtle features in the active areas on the solar disk when compared to the <0.7 Ångstrom passband of the standard single etalon version (#SM60107), while only marginally reducing detail in the disk-edge prominences.
True double-stacking mounts a complete second 60mm etalon assembly in front of the SolarMax 60’s normal 60mm filter. This can be done either at the factory when the scope (our part number #SM6010DS) is manufactured, or the second 60mm filter assembly can be added at the factory at a later date (although at admittedly a much higher cost than buying the scope double-stacked to begin with).
In contrast, this dual etalon version uses the SolarMax 60’s normal full-aperture 60mm etalon in front of the objective lens, but has a factory-installed and performance-matched 40mm diameter second etalon mounted within the telescope barrel. The two etalons provide the increased contrast benefits of true double-stacking, but the smaller size (and consequently lower cost) of the 40mm internal etalon keeps the price of this dual etalon scope considerably below that of adding a complete second 60mm external etalon as is done with the #SM6010DS.
The scope’s custom-designed achromatic doublet lens uses special multi-layer antireflection coatings on all air-to-glass surfaces to optimize anti-ghosting and improve contrast. These vacuum-deposited hard coatings will provide a long lifetime of detailed solar observing. The scope delivers both diffraction-limited optical performance and the extremely high contrast needed to see both subtle surface details and the full explosive power of flares and prominences. With 50% higher resolution than a 40mm solar scope, and more than twice a 40mm’s light gathering area, the dual etalon SolarMax 60 can show you subtle details and contrast shadings that are simply invisible in any smaller scope.
The three-piece solar filter consists of a full-aperture 60mm etalon in front of the objective lens, a performance-matched 40mm diameter etalon mounted within the telescope barrel, and a 10mm clear aperture blocking filter in the scope’s 1.25" star diagonal. The etalons are thermally stable, so there is no drifting off the H-Alpha line as the etalons heat up during use. (Thermal stability is a mere 0.005Å per degree Centigrade.) The 10mm clear aperture of the blocking filter portion of the H-Alpha system that is built into the star diagonal is matched to the focal length of the telescope to give full disk views of the Sun.
The SolarMax 60 has a manual 1.25" drawtube that extends for rough focusing. A helical focusing ring around the drawtube then provides the appropriate final fine focusing. This method provides enough back focus to allow both visual observing and afocal imaging. The 10mm blocking filter aperture allows you to use a Barlow in front of the SolarMax 60’s blocking filter/diagonal. This makes digital photography easier and allows the use of a binoviewer with the SolarMax.
A T-Max passband tuner is installed between the 60mm external solar filter etalon and the objective lens. This lets you mechanically tilt the filter’s passband off the H-Alpha line to observe Doppler-shifted solar activity. This will let you determine whether Doppler-shifted features, such as flares, are moving towards you or away from you as they leap off the surface of the Sun. This is particularly important as this dual etalon scope provides higher visibility of very subtle disk features than the single etalon <0.7 Ångstrom version. For more details, click on the “T-Max" icon above.
A 25mm (16x) Coronado CEMAX eyepiece is standard equipment with the SolarMax 60. This eyepiece, like all the Coronado CEMAX eyepieces, uses a proprietary anti-reflection multicoatings formula that has been optimized for the highest possible contrast during solar viewing of subtle prominence and surface detail. For closer views of solar disk details, you might consider adding a 12mm (33x) and/or 18mm (22x) CEMAX eyepiece to your system. For still higher power views, consider also adding the Coronado CEBAR 2x Barlow to your system. Like the CEMAX eyepieces, its performance and coatings are optimized for solar observing.
You can also use most 1.25" eyepieces in your collection with the Coronado SolarMax 60. Any good quality 50° field Plössl will work well, as a Plössl’s contrast is generally good and its field wide and flat. For optimum solar detail, however, the Coronado CEMAX eyepieces have a small, but visible, solar viewing contrast advantage over a conventional eyepiece designed for nighttime deep space observing.
A hard carrying case is standard equipment to transport and store the SolarMax 60. The scope comes with a clamshell tube mounting ring that allows you to mount the reasonably lightweight (6 lb.) scope on most altazimuth and equatorial astronomical mounts. An optional Coronado Sol Ranger Sun Finder is available to make it easy to center the Sun’s image in the eyepiece. The Sol Ranger connects to the SolarMax 60’s clamshell mounting ring.
An alternative to this dual etalon scope is the Coronado #SM6010DS. This is a true double-stack model that adds a second factory-matched external 60mm etalon to the standard SolarMax 60.
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