White light solar imaging with the Skymax90 from Sky-Watcher

Yesterday, the little Sky-Watcher Skymax 90 arrived. Superbly packaged, adjusted, and checked, and in perfect condition.

Unfortunately, the weather isn't suitable for trying it out on astronomical objects. Clouds, rain, and all the obstacles that thwart such an endeavor. However, there were some breaks in the cloud cover this afternoon, with Ventusky reporting 50% cloud cover. A solar filter using the Baader film is quickly made, so I wanted to at least "try" taking a picture (without high expectations).

What can I say? The telescope is a real surprise, especially given the truly poor viewing conditions! Because of its relatively small aperture, it's not as susceptible to turbulence, which is an advantage over larger telescopes in unfavorable seeing conditions anyway. But I didn't expect it to produce such detailed images of sunspots. Just look closely at the umbra, penumbra, and the details within them. Such sharpness and contrast are (at least for me) astonishingly good and certainly above average for such a small telescope. I was more than pleasantly surprised.

So, if you're looking for a small and excellent telescope: Here it is.

Portable, quick to set up with small mounts, and inexpensive to boot (in my opinion).

There should be some breaks in the clouds again this evening. The moon and Jupiter will be waiting for me. I'm VERY excited to see what this little telescope will "conjure up."

Equipment:

Telescope: Sky-Watcher Skymax90

Solar filter: Baader Planetarium

Camera: ASI 178MC

Mount: Celestron AVX

A heartfelt thank you to Karl Kloss and the "telescope specialists"!!!

Best regards,
Reinhard