Baader ASTF AstroSolar Telescope Filter

Mounted Filters with Baader AstroSolar Safety Film OD 5.0
After 15 years of offering AstroSolar film sheets as DIY-product, this system of Baader Solar Filters™ is designed to retain the true optical quality of the diffraction limited AstroSolar Safety Film.

Baader Solar Filters provide a professional and secure solution to observe and image the Sun using AstroSolar® Safety Film OD 5.0. Many ready made filters do stretch the filter material like a drumhead in order to make it look like a piece of glass – this absolutely does destroy the image quality, rendering the film useless for high magnification work. AstroSolar must be mounted entirely stress free in order to perform like a high precision planeoptical window. It sounds like a contradiction with traditional perception of quality, but AstroSolar must show slight ripples! Only when the film is being put under stress by an improper cell mount it performs just like any single side coated glass-filter made of untreated floatglass.

Safe for solar observation and photography with all high-end telescopes and extreme tele-lenses. Suitable for highest magnifications and detailed observation of individual sunspots
AstroSolar Safety Film OD 5.0, mounted stress free in temperature compensated cell
No astigmatism during winter observation or with temperature changes in summer
Scope of supply: ASTF Filter with apertures from 80 to 180mm (200 – 280mm not yet available) come with two sets of centering bolts in 38mm length. 3 bolts with 10mm diameter and 3 bolts with 20mm diameter, adjustable to the tube diameter of your telescope or dew cap. In addition three safety straps with glue-pads and three rubber plugs to cover the holes that are not used, mounting instructions.

ASTF (AstroSolar Telescope Filter)– Baader Solar Filter for high-end Telescopes
This family of solar filters is made in the most elaborate way. AstroSolar must not be put under stress, neither during mounting the film, nor during any temperature change. For this reason the ASTF-Filter features a temperature compensated cell. The film itself is repeatably cemented onto an injection molded ring, whereas the substrate of that ring has the same thermal expansion like the Astro Solar Filter material itself. This free floating film-carrier ring is held onto the aluminum frame with the help of another holding ring made of fiber reinforced plastic – for a maximum of security against breaking of the cell. This temperature compensated cell enables the AstroSolar filter material to retain its excellent optical quality at any temperature – be it -30°C or +50°C.

All Baader Solar Filters feature:
original Baader AstroSolar® Safety Film (OD 5.0), cell mounted and quality inspected by skilled members of our staff
clear white IR-rejecting front ring with reinforcing raised edges along the outer and inner circumference, designed to protect the solar filter material from contact with any sharp metal edge
3 injection molded centering-bolts with threaded brass inserts to center the filter-cell in front of the tube opening. These bolts come in three different diameters, depending on the filter category (ASTF/ASSF/ASBF). Each bolt features injection molded rubber grip-faces, shaped to easily slide onto any telescope tube – but to come off very hard
no tool mounting and adjustment of the centering bolts to fit a wide variety of mechanical tube diameters. Bolts made to contact the outside or optional (if appropriate) the inside of the optical instrument tube
non-rotating sliding fasteners made from aluminum that hold the centering bolts. These metal sliders are equipped with a machined indicator to point towards the adjustment index
additional Phillips screws are integrated into the sliding fasteners, so that the centering bolts can be firmly fastened with a screw driver if preferred by the user
index scale provided beside each adjustment slot – adjacent to each sliding fastener, for fast and repeatable adjustment of the filter cell onto different telescope tubes
black sliding washers supplied to securely cover the full length of the adjustment slots in the aluminum frame – for blocking sunlight from passing trough the filter cell beside the filter area
only for ASTF/BDSF-filters: rubber plugs supplied as cover for closing unused adjustment slots in the aluminum frame
three security straps included, to secure the position of the filter cell with Velcro-adhesive pads. A safety feature to absolutely ensure a secure fit in front of the telescope under any circumstances (gust of wind asf)
warning text printed onto the front side of each filter cell: Read the Instructions before use
cardboard gift box fit for safely shipping the filter

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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