First light, finally...

I had planned on doing an unboxing video, but there really was not very much to it. Open the box and the case is there, inside the case is the scope, pretty much ready to rock. No assembly or anything, just had to put the dovetail rail on and attach to mount. It would have been pretty boring.

So I have been fighting the clouds for the past several days since receiving the scope. Today I finally got a short break from the cloudcover which afforded me almost an hour of good solar observing.

First off let me say how really impressed I am with the Lunt 60tha. It is a great scope in all aspects, a solid instrument. After getting to use it today, seeing the sun in h-alpha light can only be described as a surreal event. Looking through the eyepiece, it was easily the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in a telescope. There were many prominences visible, including one that a poster on cloudy nights described as looking like a spider standing on the sun. Actually getting to see it, well that was breathtaking. I did manage to take some photos afocally with my iphone. Believe me, these photos look nowhere near as good as the visual view through the eyepiece. My task now is to find an imaging system that will allow me to match or exceed what the view looks like to the eyeball.

enjoy these pics, they will get better as my skills and imaging budget improve!