My Lunt LS80THa and Omegon 66ED on Astrophysics Mach 1 mount - solar setup.

I like to setup for solar imaging in the morning, with the AP Mach 1 mount just outside my observatory.  I can control the mount and the focuser of the Lunt from the inside where the computer is.  In this way I am also shielded from the Sun and wind and I can see the image on the monitor better than when the observatory roof is open.  I don't have an electric focuser on the Omegon 66ED refractor, so for imaging I set the image supplied by the camera at 300% size on the screen and focus standing next to the mount while looking at the monitor. The LS80THa has a FeatherTouch focuser with a motor that is controlled with the older digital system that used to be supplied by Starlight Instruments (this system has been replaced with the MicroTouch from Starizona).

The Omegon 66ED is also sold under other brand names such as AstroTech.  The Baader Herschel prism takes up a lot of backfocus, and normally is used with a 2" drawtube. However the Omegon does not accept 2" accessories but luckily the prism and the Omegon have SCT threads. So the prism is screwed directly on the focuser. I also use a lower 1,25" eyepiece holder from Baader instead of the original 2" one, so now I can easily focus an eyepiece or the camera with this little refractor and the Baader Herschelprism.

The images were taken on 20 April 2013 when I tried a side-by-side setup of the Lunt and the Omegon for the first time.  This works fine, although the telescopes are not completely parallel but close enough.  I may add a Skywatcher Guidescope Mount, that I have, to support the Omegon so that I can easily center the Sun in both telescopes at the same time, but then one can only use one telescope at time ;-) .

  The  pressure tuner and Tele-Vue Sol Searcher
Setup outside the observatory FireCapture at work
Lunt and Omegon side-by-side