Solar prominences, active sunspots, plage patches, surface granulation, wispy plasma filaments—these fascinating features and more await your gaze through the Heliostar 100 H-Alpha Solar Telescope with Wave 100i Mount Kit from Sky-Watcher. The telescope, mount, and tripod kit are purpose-built for safe solar viewing: the mount finds and tracks the sun automatically, and the telescope singles out the hydrogen-alpha wavelength from the light spectrum for the richly detailed view it provides of our home star.
The Sky-Watcher Heliostar 100 H-Alpha Solar Telescope is a dedicated optic for solar viewing only. This is no general-use refractor with a solar filter over the aperture—the Heliostar is built with a highly precise Solis etalon bandpass filter, refined by a Trifid tuner, to block all but a 0.55-angstrom sliver of hydrogen-alpha light. That light, in the 656.3nm wavelength, permits observation of solar phenomena in rich detail, including prominences, filaments, sunspots, and solar flares.
The Heliostar also features a blocking filter in the eyepiece diagonal and meets ISO 12312 safety standards. It comes with a 20mm 1.25" eyepiece with a 70° angle of view that provides 35x magnification and a smartphone adapter so you can capture and share the remarkable sights you see.
- 100mm objective lens
- 760mm focal length
- Focal ratio: f/7.6
- Achromatic doublet lens design, H-alpha fully multicoated
- Integrated Solis etalon filter technology with Trifid tuning system
- Passes only hydrogen-alpha 656.3nm bandwidth, which enables detailed observation of prominences on the limb of the sun, active sunspot regions, bright plage patches, surface granulation, snake-like plasma filaments, and more
- 20mm, 1.25" diagonal format blocking filter
- Meets ISO 12312 safety standards
- 2" diameter focuser
- Dual-speed Crayford-style
- Crayford focusers use a toothless friction system that allows for super-fine precision focusing without backlash
- 20mm 70° 1.25" eyepiece, 35x magnification with this telescope
- Integrated Heliostar solar finder
- Tube rings and carry handle
- Vixen-style dovetail bar
- Clip-on sunshade
- Hard-shell carry case
Utilizing precise, no-backlash, high-torque strain wave gearing, the Sky-Watcher Wave 100i GoTo Strain Wave Mount is a compact but highly capable motorized GoTo mount for your optical tube assembly. The mount weighs just 9.5 pounds but can support a 22-pound payload with no counterweight and 33 pounds with optional counterweights. It is controlled by Sky-Watcher's popular SynScan GoTo hand controller or app on a paired device and is compatible with other controllers such as ASIAir, Eagle, and StellarMate.
The mount holds optical tubes of all sizes on two D/V saddles and operates in alt-azimuth or equatorial tracking modes with RA and Dec home positions and a 0-90° latitude range. A red backlit latitude display and bubble level make setup easier, and an RA brake prevents backsliding if the power goes out.