Observations of the Sun with the Vaonis Vespera Pro

Introduction | First Experiences with the Solar Mode | First Conclusions | Links

On this page, I describe my first experiences with my electronic 2" refractor telescope Vaonis Vespera Pro 50 mm/250 mm (f/5) when observing the sun.

Notes:

See also page Vaonis Vespera Pro - Information.

Introduction

Photo: My Vaonis Vespera Pro (May 8, 2024)

Solar Filter


Solar Filter in its outer box...		... and taken out of the boxes

Since there is a solar filter for the Vespera available and the Singularity app was extended with a "solar mode" in time, you can also observe the sun in a simple way with the Vespera Pro. In the article "Solar Mode with Vespera" of the Vaonis Knowledge Base (support.vaonis.com/portal/en/kb/articles/solar-mode-with-stellina) the procedure for observing the sun is described; so I do not want to repeat this here. In principle, sunspots are the easiest to photograph. Flares require post-processing of the photos, and further investigations make more work (see the article Observing the Sun with Vespera and Stellina). I myself have only observed sunspots so far.

First Experiences with the Solar Mode

Sun Spots from May 9, 2024

My first attempt with the Vespera Pro was aimed at the sun on May 9, 2024. Initially, however, I had set up the Vespera Pro so that the sun was partially obscured by a small tree. This produced quite nice photos, but not the results that I wanted. I bent the tree to the side and tied it down, and then I was able to capture the sun without any interference.


Sun covered by tree...	Sun with sun spots, section	Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live)

Sun with sun spots, section, second series	Ditto	Ditto

Sun Spots from August 10, 2024

This time, I used the Gitzo tripod to have the Vespera Pro higher up... I took the photo after havin seen a photo by Scott Bass in a Facebook group. I had never seen so many sunspots before!


Sun spots, photo from series 1 (section)		Sun spots, photo from series 2 (section)

Sun spots, same photo from series 2, slightly sharpened		Sun spots, same photo from series 2, sharpened more strongly

Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live)

First Conclusions

Observations of the sun are easily conducted with the Vaonis Vespera Pro and its solar filter. As with the original Vespera, however, I am somewhat disappointed of the low sharpness of the photos/sunspots.