My new LS35THaDX

Yesterday morning I got a call from Lunt’s local dealer that the adaptor for the LS35T was ready and I was welcomed to test its performance. In fact the first batch of LS35T was a prototype and was more expensive than the upcoming LS35T. But I decided to buy the special batch of LS35T.

Shortly after the launch of LS35T, people found that it was not webcam focusable. It was basically the optical tube or the focuser tube was too long. Lunt didn’t give resolution for the first batch of LS35T, but will rectify the upcoming LS35T. Since the modification is very simple, either make a shorter optical tube or a shorter focus tube will make it works. Maybe this is a cheap solution that to let the local dealer to make the modification rather than ship back all the scopes and modify those scopes by Lunt.

The reason I bought the first batch of LS35T was that it was not simply a deluxe package, LS35THaDX. The lens of the first batch of LS35T was made by Carl Zeiss. I was told due to the mass production problem; Carl Zeiss could not meet the Lunt’s specification with a reasonable low cost. So the upcoming LS35T will not use Carl Zeiss lens anymore. In addition, the blocking filter of this special batch was B600 instead of B400. So I treat this special Carl Zeiss batch or prototype as a collection.

Well about the performance, today we got a beautiful sunny day, I tested the LS35T. Recently the sun is very claim. I was very lucky that I saw two sunspots and one prominence. The locations of the two sunspots were around 4:00 to 5:00 and the location of the prominence was around 12:00. I could see the details of the sun disc. Since I don’t have PST experience, I can only compare the LS35T with LS100T and LS100F. It is not a serious comparison because I only have limited experience of LS100T and LS100F. At the moment, I am not able to produce any photos because I am too green in astrophotography. Getting the sun in focus in daytime is another challenge. Anyway, the image produced by LS35T is bright. Although the 35mm aperture is small, the solar disc is bright and uniform. I was told by a Solarmax user that Lunt’s image is very uniform and no observable ghost image is found. Don’t expect you can see the filaments at once unless you are using larger aperture or double-stack systems. You need to stare at the solar disc and inspect it carefully. However, once you get use to it, it is obvious! The details of solar disc can be improved by fine tuning the Etalon. This is what I have done today. I will try my best to take some photos soon!

As it is a low end product, it cannot be compared with my friend's LS100THaDS. However, I am sure you will not regret to buy one! It is affordable and handy. But the bad news is that the local dealer only got four special Carl Zeiss version LS35T. He will ship one to China and keep one for himself. The other two were bought by another stargazer and me yesterday. So all the scopes gone!