Sun in White Light & Ha with a Quark - 11/7/14

[DrRobin]

Hi,

A late afternoon session as the sun took all day to clear from behind cloud.  First the white lights.

Full disc, WO ZS80mm, Lunt wedge, 0.8x FR, ASI120MM

Close up of the main spot group.  Interesting bright spot in the middle of AR 2109.  As above but with a 3x barlow.  The bright spot shows up in Ha as well.

Now the Ha.  It is the same region with a Quark, 0.5x FR, WO ZS80mm

Neutral tuning + 2 clicks clockwise

Neutral tuning + 1 clicks clockwise

Neutral tuning

Neutral tuning -1 click (anti-clockwise)

The best is around neutral (or plus 1 click).  The neutral position in false colour

[David Smith]

Wow, those close-ups are impressive Robin. Interesting the effect the tuning has on the Quark, none of the images look "off-band" as such and each brings it's own set of characteristics.

[Uplooker]

Well done Robin, those are excellent images. I particularly like the white light, they are very good though. There is tonnes of activity. Unfortunately I have been really short of time recently and have not have an opportunity to view, never mind image the sun. Well done again.

Ian

[Stu]

Very nice indeed Robin. As David says, none look off band, all have something to offer.

I do like the comparison between similar high power views in Ha and white light, very interesting to compare the features in each.

Stu

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[DrRobin]

I have to admit my white lights have really come on and the only thing that is different is a WO Zenithstar 80mm, it's a really superb little scope for solar. In fact I reckon it is better than my WO GT102, which is a little worrying.

Robin

[Luke]

Great stuff, Robin. Interesting what David says about the Quark shots.

This morning I tried some visual at neutral, two, four and five clicks clockwise. Neutral seemed the worst, two and four seemed similar and five slighty worse but still decent to my eyes. Think I'll try three clicks clockwise next to image with.

I just about get full disc with my Tele Vue 60 (360mm focal length) and 25mm Plossl.

It's annoying when a smaller scope seems to outdo a bigger one! How old is the 102?

[smerral]

Yes round about neutral look most on band to me Robin, but as others have said they all have something to offer... What is your gamma setting for the quark shots and how are you sharpening them?  I ask because I have found that low gamma at capture makes processing easier.  Also using Lucy-Richardson convolution (with possibly a slight touch of wavelets afterwards) produces a more satisfying result for me than purely wavelets and/or unsharp masking.

[DrRobin]

It's annoying when a smaller scope seems to outdo a bigger one! How old is the 102?

About 8 months, with unused focal reducer. Not that the GT102 is no good, far from it, I just think this Zenithstar is just so good for solar.

I bought the GT102 for solar and will try my Quark on it when time permits, but it can double up as a portable night time set up.

Robin

[DrRobin]

Sorry for the late reply Brian, it was Mrs DrRobin's birthday BBQ tonight and we have just seen off the last guests. All the Ha images were taken with the same gamma of 15, low gain and adjusting the exposure (around 5ms) to try and keep things balanced.

I use smart sharpen in Paint.net, very similar to unsharp mask in PS to sharpen my solar images. BTW I have just got PS and installed it but so far I can't say I like it very much. The reason for getting it, it will import and process in 16 bit whereas Paint.net and GIMP will import in 16 bit but only process in 8 bit. I have been trying 16 bit to see if it gives an advantage, so far I am not convinced on solar with an ASI120MM, so I am off back to 8 bit for a while. My night time camera is 16 bit, so by processing in 8 bit I am throwing away all that extra detail.

I was lucky enough to get on the beta test for the new ASI120MM, it will do 60 fps at full frame in 8 bit or 30 fps in 16 bit, quite a step up from a DMK41 and no apparent fixed pattern noise. There are however, Newton Rings at high magnification but go with a focal reducer inserted and these are no worse than the current ASI120MM. I think the ASI120MM-S will soon displace the USB 2.0 ASI120MM and it will go as pricing doesn't appear to be too different.

I took my Lunt 60 DS on hols last year (13 solar Ha images), this year my Quark and white light set up is going to Menorca so hopefully I can get to grips with the Quark under clear skies and really figure out how to drive it correctly.

Robin

[Pete Presland]

excellent close ups!

[smerral]

I suppose it's what you're used to Robin.  Personally I would hate to be without PS as it's all I've used for years.  I suppose the only way is to experiment until youcome up with a workflow that you're happy with.