| What is so interesting about H-Alpha? |
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Hydrogen Alpha is interesting because you are seeing the chromosphere of the sun which is a very dynamic part of our nearest star. You can observe prominences develop and see plages around sunspots, solar granulation and the dark lines of filaments, all in 'real time'! The hydrogen alpha filter is the only filter that can show you all this and it is only very recently that anyone other than professional astronomers have had access to this amazing technology.
Everyone who has had the opportunity to see the sun in H-Alpha has been absolutely stunned by the view! Serious WOW factor! |
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| Can the filters ever degrade? |
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| No! The coatings on the filters are permanent and as such should last a lifetime as long as due care is taken not to drop the filter or scratch the optical surfaces and so should continually give the same performance as the day you bought it! |
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| Can the user 'tune' the filter? |
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| Yes. By using the thumbwheel on the front filter it is possible to tilt the filter assembly which finely controls the bandpass and allows the user to follow fast moving doppler shifted events. |
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| Why are H-Alpha filters so expensive? |
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| H-Alpha filters are very costly to make due to their incredible accuracy and fine tolerances. Whereas most telescope optics are figured to ¼ wave, the glass in these filters has to be perfectly flat and figured to 100th wave! They then have to be coated to micron accuracy with expensive specialist coatings and then assembled by hand to be perfectly parallel - a very rare skill developed with years of experience. |
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| If you can't find the answer to your question on this page then please Email us and we will do our best to answer you, and any popular questions we will add to this page. |
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