Solar optics then (1942) and now..(2025).
Taken by Dr. J. Wayne Wooten on April 8, 2025 @
Pensacola, Florida
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Camera Used: Apple iPhone 12 mini
Exposure Time: 1/769
Aperture: f/1.6
ISO: 32
Date Taken: Unavailable
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Details:
I have been awazed by the performance of apochromatic images with the See Stars and Dwarf Labs scopes, particularly in solar imaging. But I decided to find out just how good a US Navy surplus 62mm achomat might compare with the apos. This lens, made by Wollensak in WWII, was probably used aboard a ship and was uncoated. It has a unusual doublet, with crown at top 64mm, and flint doublet below only 62mm, making it easy to mount in the PVC tube when my 8 year old son Michael buidt it with a homemade mirror star diagonal and 32mm erfle from US Army tank periscope, also surplus from C&H Sales, back in 1989. Have used it a hundreds of stargazes since for kids to find the moon (and sun, with 2" Baader filter used here). See for yourself; when I used my iPhne 12s to image the Sun, adjusting contrast to focus spots, the detail tells me that in this case, "military specs" were amazing good back then. I compare it with See Star S 50 with same ND5 Baader filter here. Contrast better with See Star, but still amazed at the old optics!
Photographer's website:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/80860174301/photos/?filter=albums
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