Re: ATM [Fwd: BOUNCE atm@shore.net: Non-member submission from [RRedden506@aol.com]]

["Chris Westland" <westland@uxmail.ust.hk>]

I looked into building a coelostat, and think that the designs in ATM are
really the simplest to build (Iliked the 100 foot Sun Telescope, with a
fixed concave mirror) ... and the spectrohelioscope has always ben enticing
(I have never heard of anyone building one of these though).  If you are
only planning this for visual use, I would just go with cheap clockwork
mechanisms.  ATM recommends a spring alarm clock (can you still buy these?)
and a compact (lady's) mirror.   The equipment looks like it would be
relatively portable, and you wouldn't need more than about 6" aperture for
the sun.

If you want to do this with a Daystar H-alpha filter, Day star will to f/40
lenses (3-4" diameter for about US $400) in red glass, so all you need is a
rotating flat ... a large elliptical secondary would do just fine.

Chris Westland