6 Best Solar Powered Telescopes For 2024 [Top Reviews]

A solar powered telescope is an optical instrument that makes distant objects appear near. It magnifies the objects by using an arrangement of lenses. It is used to observe objects by their absorption, emission and reflection of radiations. It increases the apparent angular size of distant objects as well as their apparent brightness. It gathers light and radiation and brings light and radiation to a focus, where the image can be observed, photographed or studied. Its main purpose is to collect and focus photons. The bigger the telescope, the more photons it will collect. A solar powered telescope can be equipped to record light over a long period of time by using CCD detector, electronic detectors or photographic film. Large solar telescopes have a superior resolution. It is able to discern fine details. Its resolution is directly proportional to the wavelength being observed and inversely proportional to the diameter of the telescope.

Reviews of the Best Solar Telescopes

**Below, you’ll find our more detailed reviews, but you can also click the links above to see current prices or read customer reviews on Amazon.

Top 6 Best Solar Telescope Reviews

There is a wide range of solar telescopes available in the market in-store and online. Choosing the perfect solar telescope can be a tedious and confusing task.  We have analyzed and listed our top-rated solar telescopes to make your life easier. We hope that this curated list will help you choose the best solar telescope for your need.

1.  Meade Instruments Coranado PST Personal Solar Telescope

This is a great solar telescope.

1. Warranty:

It is backed by five year factory warranty.

2. Clear aperture:

This forty mm diameter highly portable dedicated solar telescope features completely internal non-removable and student safe solar filtering optics with a one angstrom hydrogen-alpha (Ha) bandpass for great surface detail.

3. Focal length:

Its optical system with thirty mm internal etalon primary blocking filter and incorporated focuser and bandpass fine adjustment controls and built-in solar viewfinder. Its focal length is four hundred millimetres.

4. Mounting options:

Its mounting options include use on a standard photo tripod (scope is threaded for a standard camera mounting bolt), Infinity AZS, or the Meade DSM mount with computerized Autostar and GOTO technology.

5. Brilliant and clear view:

It will show you the dynamic, ever changing prominences at the edge of the Sun as well as filaments and other surface details in amazing detail, all in the brilliant and distinctive red colour of hydrogen-alpha light.

Pros:

• It is affordable and cost-effective.
• It is safe for your eyesight.

2.  Coronado Coronado SolarMax II 60 Solar Telescope with RichView Tuning

This is a great solar telescope.

1. High resolution:

It offers dedicated visual observation of the surface detail and prominences on the sun in hydrogen-alpha light.

2. RichView tuning assembly:

It allows direct tuning of the primary filter etalon. It provides the tuning range and accuracy when you tune for the highest contrast views of active regions, flares, filaments and other surface details. You can also easily and quickly re-tune for prominences on the solar limb.

3. Accessories included:

Its mounting rings come with it.

4. Warranty:

It comes with five years of factory warranty.

Pros:

• Ten mm blocking filters are included.
• Aperture is sixty mm.

3.  Lunt Solar 50mm Hydrogen-Alpha Ready to View Telescope with 4 mm Blocking Filter

This is a great solar telescope. It is used to view ever-changing storms, eruptions, flares and massive coronal mass ejections on the surface of the sun.

1. Accessories included:

Its foam protection and the sturdy case come with it.

2. Warranty:

It is backed by five years warranty.

3. Handcrafted etalon:

Its internal etalon is handcrafted with true Doppler pressure tuner.

Pros:

• It includes a blocking filter and an eyepiece.
• It is perfect for beginners.

4.  Meade Instruments 0.5PST Coronado H-Alpha Personal Solar Telescope

This is an excellent solar telescope.

1. Double-stacked viewing:

It can be double-stacked for more contrast and details on the surface of the sun.

2. Second solar filter:

It has an internally fitted second solar filter.

3. Thermally stable:

Its thermally stable system is tuned.

4. Mount is included:

A standard tripod mount comes with it.

5. Warranty:

It is backed by one-year limited warranty.

Pros:

• Its aperture is forty mm.
• Its focal length is four hundred mm.

5.  Lunt Solar 50mm H-Alpha Telescope with 6mm Blocking Filter

This is a great solar telescope.

1. Mounts are included:

It includes clamshell with threaded holes and dust caps for mounting.

2. Pressure tuning:

It includes the newest technology for fine tuning. True Doppler tuning allows for a shift into and away from you. This pressure tuning system provides an order of magnitude and more precision to the tuning of your desired features.

3. Enhanced visual and imaging capability:

While looking at a filament at the centre of the sun you will have the ability to Doppler shift from the base of the filament through its structure towards you and away from you, adding a 3D-like component to your viewing experience.

Pros:

• It is perfect for amateur astronomers.

6.  Celestron EclipSmart ISO Certified North American Total Solar Eclipse Refracting Telescope

This is a great solar telescope.

1. Adjustable:

Its included photo-style alt-az mount with adjustable height tripod allows easy adjustment and aiming with stability. It can point straight overhead without any interference.

2. Solar finderscope:

It allows you to easily align it to the sun without directly viewing the sun.

3. Safest view:

Its full-aperture glass filter material ensures the safest view of solar events.

4. Wide field of view:

It offers a generous field of view which enables it to easily locate the sun and the entire solar disk is made visible while viewing.

5. All accessories are included:

The eyepiece, lens cover, a nylon backpack, tripod and instructions manual are all included.

Pros:

• Its solar safe filter technology provides complete protection from harmful radiations both IR and UV light.

Ultimate Buying Guide – Solar Telescope

Things to Consider When Buying a Solar Powered Telescope

• Aperture:

The most important thing to consider is the aperture of a solar powered telescope. It is the diameter of its light-gathering lens or mirror, which is also called objective. Check its specifications on its box or near its focuser, at the front of the tube. Its aperture’s diameter is expressed either in millimetres or sometimes in inches. Select the solar powered telescope which has at least seventy millimetres aperture and preferably more. A larger aperture helps you to observe fainter objects and finer details than a smaller one can. A small solar telescope will only show you plenty of details if you far away from city lights. The solar telescopes with eighty millimetres aperture will show you numerous galaxies beyond Milky Way if you are using it in a dark location. But if you live in a suburban area, you must select a solar telescope with at least eight inch aperture to be able to observe the same galaxies. The view through a solar telescope with more aperture is more studiable than the view of the same object through a telescope with a low aperture, regardless of how bright or dark the sky is. A solar telescope’s maximum useful magnification is fifty times its aperture in inches and twice its aperture in millimetres. Never buy a solar telescope that is advertised by its magnification, always pay all your attention to its aperture.

• Adjustable altitude tension knobs:

The world’s best solar telescope is useless unless it is on a sturdy and smooth mount. There are two types of mounts: altitude-azimuth (alt-az) and equatorial. An alt-az mount works like a tripod. Its pan and tilt head allows you to move your telescope up-down and left-right. An alt-az mount is a well-engineered mount which has finely threaded slow motion controls that enables your telescope to be moved slowly by small amounts, which is necessary when you are using high powers. Modern high-tech alt-az mounts have built-in motor drives to do this, freeing you to concentrate on the object in view. A Dobsonian is a form of an alt-az mount with low-centre-of-gravity, that glides softly about both axes with your fingertip control. It is far easier to track a heavenly body using an equatorial mount, as it automatically counteracts to Earth’s rotation.

• Adjustable eye-cup:

Make sure your solar telescope’s eye-cup is rotatable and adjustable for comfortable viewing, you can twist it up and down to avoid neck fatigue.

• Eye safety:

A solar telescope concentrates the sun’s blazing light. It is very important to use safety filters. Make sure you avoid the filter that is placed at the eyepiece end of the solar telescope. The concentrated sunlight will surely destroy this filter, followed shortly by your eyesight. A sheet of solar filter specially designed for a solar powered telescope is an inexpensive yet a valuable thing, you must remember to look for. Make sure the filter is firmly attached to the front of your solar telescope, so there is no possibility that it will come off while you are viewing. Some special solar telescopes have built-in interference filters for the safety of your vision, they are costly.

• Fogproof:

Make sure your solar telescope gives you the most precise and clearest view even in foggy weather conditions.

Final Verdict

After detailed comparisons, I have concluded that the title for the best solar telescope goes to Meade Instruments Coranado PST Personal Solar Telescope. It is backed by five years factory warranty. It has numerous mounting options.

You can also go for Coronado Coronado SolarMax II 60 Solar Telescope with RichView Tuning. It is safe for your eyesight. It is tunable.