The Altair Solar Energy Rejection Filter or D-ERF protects your telescope and solar imaging equipment from excessive heat build-up when solar imaging or observing with your Daystar Ha or Calcium Quark, or other Etalon filters.

The ERF cell will hold the optical flat securely without distortion, made from special "cold-cast" aluminium and brass. The housing is hand polished and finished and every unit is unique, making this a special product indeed. 

The Altair Solar Energy Rejection Filter or D-ERF protects your telescope and solar imaging equipment from excessive heat build-up when solar imaging or observing with your Daystar Ha Quark, or other Etalon filters.

NOTE: This D-ERF filter cannot be used on it's own. It can ONLY be used in conjunction with a Daystar Quark, or other similar product, which has it's own complete blocking filters built-in. Serious eye damage will result if this product is used on a telescope without a professional Etalon product (such as the Quark) with it's own blocking filters at the eyepiece end of the telescope. If in doubt, contact Altair Astro or your dealer for clarification before ordering.

• Clear aperture 130mm / 5" (140mm ERF Filter 5mm edge for mounting)
• Unique Cold Cast Aluminium / Brass Cell - distortion free
• Top quality coatings, parallelism and surface for sharp images
• Blocking of UVIR but allows Ha, CAK and CAH wavelengths through

The housing is a fusion of modern 3D modelling / FDM printing technology, and old casting technologies, developed in collaboration with Nick Brooks, a local British fine-art moulding expert. The initial production run is limited by the number of castings possible from the original mould. The housing is made from special "cold-cast" aluminium, and the retaining hand knobs are made from "cold cast" brass with silicon cushions to protect your optical tube. The housing is then subject to some machining operations, and hand polished and finished, giving it a unique high tech, yet timeless hand-worked quality. It's also very tough, UV resistant and lighter than normal aluminium by volume. You can polish the housing surface more using Autoglym metal polish or other similar mild metal polishes and a soft cloth. We anticipate the housing to last generations.

Special Dichroic multilayer coatings on flat optical glass block Infrared and Ultraviolet light by reflection, as well as most of the unwanted emission spectrum of the sun, delivering only the useful Calcium and Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths, for solar imaging with your 3rd party Etalon. A D-ERF is far more efficient than the cheaper ERFs using coloured red dyed glass, because it works by reflecting heat, instead of absorbing it like dye filters. It therefore remains cool and stable. High optical quality and freedom from striae and internal tensions give the sharpest possible results.

Benefits of using a D-ERF on scopes of 4" or larger:

• Reduces heat build-up by reflecting heat before it enters the telescope, leading to a sharper image and no heat haze from air currents inside the telescope tube.
• Reduces the impact of heat on your Etalon, prolonging life of the product.
• Reduces the impact of heat on your Etalon bandpass, keeping it on-band and allowing longer imaging sessions, as well as longer animation sequences. Example solar Hydrogen Alpha animation with Altair ERF (opens new window).

The Altair TriBand ERF filter transmits three narrow bands: Calcium Ca-K and Ca-H at the blue violet end of the spectrum, and at the red end of the spectrum Hydrogen Alpha Ha. This allows use of ultra narrowband Etalons such as Daystar Quark Chromosphere and Calcium Quark, as well as the Lunt Calcium modules. It can also be used with wider band interference filters for observing/imaging the solar continuum near the above lines, and at the G-band (430nm) and TiO band (706nm), with the Altair Solar Wedge.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: An ERF is ONLY to be used for visual observing or imaging with a Daystar Quark, or other professionally made Etalon in place BEFORE the telescope eyepiece. Any Etalon must incorporate full blocking filters. If in doubt, contact us. An ERF cannot be used with a standard Hydrogen Alpha filter such as that used for deepsky imaging. Never look at the sun with just the ERF in place - permanent eye injury will result. Never use a camera with just the ERF in place because the camera sensor can be damaged. Remember to cover your finder scope so you don't inadvertently look through it at the sun. We recommend the Altair Solar Finder which is the safest method of aligning your telescope to the sun. Always place the ERF on the scope and make sure all your equipment is installed correctly before pointing the telescope at the sun. If in doubt, consult the manufacturer.