This shows the set-up for using a digital SLR with the Coronado PST scope in an eyepiece projection configuration. The actual PST (personal solar telescope) part of this rig is the gold coloured tube and black rectangular box that it fits into. The black box contains a sophisticated light filtration system that isolates the hydrogen alpha wavelength at 656.3 nanometres. In addition, at the front end of the scope there's an energy rejection filter that blocks infrared, ultraviolet, and virtually all other visible wavelengths. This telescope is just for looking at the Sun and nothing else.

Viewing the Sun in just hydrogen alpha light makes it possible to see the solar chromosphere. This relatively thin layer (about ten thousand km deep) of the Sun's atmosphere is located above the photosphere. The photosphere is where we can most easily see sunspots, and it is viewed with dense, white light filters.

The solar chromosphere is the region that shows spectacular prominences of gas and plasma lifting off the surface of the Sun. Powerful magnetic fields in the Sun lift these plumes containing billions of tonnes of matter into space, far beyond the chromosphere, sometimes reaching out over one hundred thousand km. Without hydrogen alpha light filtration the chromosphere can only be seen for a few brief moments during a total solar eclipse. This little PST scope makes it possible to watch the show on any sunny day.

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