8.08.2025 Lunt LS60MT repaired! 😊

 ~*~

   My Lunt 60MT has been returned by Bresser. The Lunt distributors for Europe. They had replaced the blue and the UV/IR filters free of charge under guarantee.

 The telescope is back to normal and tunes in H-alpha near the start of the thread. It was rather cloudy at first but thinned. Enough to be able to make out lots of nicely sharp proms and surface detail. I tried a variety of Meade 4000 Plossls. Ending up with the 9.7mm for ~43x. 

 I cannot honestly confirm whether the telescope is better or worse performing than before. I so rarely used it visually. The etalon and BF were mostly used for imaging in the 6" f/10 and that was over three years ago. 

 I completely lost interest in everything after my wife died. Only now am I rebuilding my enthusiasm for solar. To the tune of ordering a cheap zoom eyepiece. An Omegon Magnum 8-24mm and a Lunt Sol Searcher sight. I don't currently own any equatorial mounts. My huge and heavy DIY equatorial has been dismantled. 

 I tried my TE binoviewers in the 60MT but was unable to reach focus. With the 1.25" TE star diagonal in place there wasn't sufficient inward focus. I tried with a Shorty 2x Barlow and a 2.6x GPC but no. The problem is the star diagonal. It adds too much to the light path. The sun was far too high to use the telescope without the star diagonal. 

 I already owned a straight through, Lunt B1200S2 blocking filter. So did not order a Lunt Solar BF diagonal containing a blocking filter. When I ordered the 60MT telescope. For its much bigger etalon than the Coronado PST. Which I had been using previously for high resolution imaging. 

 I understand from users online. That binoviewers can reach focus with the BF diagonals and a Barlow or GPC. Though there are binoviewers with 1x power and zero light path. Which have received rather mixed reviews. They are also quite expensive. Making the potential purchase a costly exercise in folly if they should not suit me. 

 Besides, I prefer much closer views than the LS60MT can manage alone. The problem is finding a mounting which could cope with my long and heavy 6" f/10 H-alpha refractor. I need to be highly portable to be able to see the sun for most of the day. Due to all the trees and hedges around my home. Which probably means a strain-wave mounting. Which may not be able to easily manage my 6". Whatever the manufacturer's load capacity claims. 

 The mounting has to be properly supported. Depending on the telescope load applied. Its length, weight and accessories. Which means a tripod has to be carried as well. The lightest carbon fiber tripod might not be ideal. Now, as I approach 80 I have to consider the risks of dropping very expensive equipment. It is no longer a matter of climbing up to my second storey observatory and simply opening the shutters. 

 I could use a smaller, shorter refractor. Say a 100mm f/7 to better suit the 60MT etalon. The 6" iStar objective, with its expensive, front mounted D-ERF. Would have to be sold. To help to finance a much more portable set-up.

  ~*~