First light with my new Quark Chromosphere

[Luke]

First, a big thanks to SCS Astro, who have been awesome sorting out replacing my Daystar Quark hydrogen-alpha "eyepiece." You really do learn the value of a retailer when things go wrong

These pics are from Sunday, I just used the default tuning on the Quark as it looked like clouds would be arriving soon, so it could be it's not the best tuning, I need to try other tunings when the clouds play ball! As it turned out, it was sunny for quite a while   Thanks for looking.

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5th October, 2014

Equinox 120, Quark Chromosphere, Grasshopper 3 camera (ICX687), Revelation 0.5x reducer

Stacked about 450 from 1700 frames per image

[oldpink]

wow Stunning quality

[Singlin]

Wow our Star!

You must be chuffed to bits.

[nmoushon]

The quality and detail of these images is amazing! If you are saying you can fine tune it more....i dont know how much better you can get them.

[bobmoss]

Fantastic images! Some great detail there.

[Pete Presland]

good start for the Quark!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice result

[Montana]

First class Quark :)

Alexandra

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great result Luke. Its interesting that the chromosphere version produces very good proms as well. I am glad that SCS Astro sorted this replacement for you.

[Luke]

Thanks, all! Not a Quark shot, but I might as well add on a white light shot from the same day, with a Baader Herschel wedge and 2x Barlow on the Equinox 120 again. Has anyone tried taking a white light shot with a cold Quark??

[Luke]

Mark, I have been lucky to try what I call a 'dark Quark' Chromosphere and a 'light' Chromosphere version too, so I guess one was closer to 0.3A and the other to 0.5A.

The dark one gave nicer contrast for the disc, but proms were still very nice indeed to look at, you certainly will not be sacrificing much on proms, they are still awe inspiring! The light one has less disc contrast, but still I had no problem seeing disc detail, and the proms did go up a level. So in some ways you can't lose either way, if you lose a little contrast on disc you gain better proms, and vice versa.

I believe the variation helps to keep the cost down massively.

I suppose it's a bit like my double stack SolarMax 60 - proms aren't as bright as single stack, but they are most certainly still impressive. I personally slightly prefer the dark Quark, but would be happy with a light one too.

Great result Luke. Its interesting that the chromosphere version produces very good proms as well. I am glad that SCS Astro sorted this replacement for you.

[Mr Bergman]

I usually don´t look into the solar section, but this time I am glad I did! Stunning work Luke! That first image is one of the finest solar images I have ever seen. /Erik

[uhb1966]

This will show my ignorance, but... what filter produes the blue-ish picture?!

[Luke]

Thanks, Erik and uhb1966!

uhb1966, the images were captured in mono and I added false colour to them in Photoshop. Mono cameras are often used for solar hydrogen-alpha because the image is red and only the red pixels in a colour camera would pick up the signal, whereas with a mono camera, all the pixels will record the signal, so you get greater resolution.

For the white light, the solar continuum filter (which boosts contrast) gives you a green colour for the Sun at the eyepiece (!), making white light green, which I record in mono, then colour orange-yellow.

So it sort of makes no sense at all

[DrRobin]

Nice Luke, glad your new Quark is working well.  Mine arrived back this week after about 5 weeks away at Daystar.  It now gets lock across the whole of the tuning range, but sadly due to work this week it hasn't had a test.  It is looking sunny for the weekend though, so I am going to save it up for then and try a Quark v Lunt & WL shoot out.

Robin

[Stu]

Fabulous shots Luke.

I'm very jealous, and impatient! My Quark is nearly here! I think it is at the post office waiting for me to collect it, which hopefully will be tomorrow morning!!

Stu

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[Luke]

Thanks, Robin. That's great news that your Quark is displaying some pretty colours while it tunes. I hope the weather behaves for you and the Quark is what you were hoping for. The weather's looking ropey this way! Nothing to trouble Steve, I would imagine

I am really chuffed that the top image has made it into the latest Sky at Night gallery on the t'interweb. It was the first image I processed with the new Quark!

Thanks, Stu! I really hope the Quark blows your socks off. I certainly don't think we'll be able to blame your fracs if not!!!

[Stu]

Certainly looking forward to trying it in the 120ED. Have a nice moonlight on it now :-)

How do the visual views compare with images? In white light I reckon the visual is as good if not better a lot of the time, but don't expect the same necessarily with the Quark

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[Luke]

Sweet focuser, we have one on our dob

Visual versus imaging is really funny, for me personally, I have not seen a single solar h-alpha image that is very close to how it looks at the eyepiece. I guess something to do with eye/brain is very different to camera/computer screen, though exactly what that is, I don't know Dynamic range?

I find the view with my ED100 (and 120) breathtaking. Unforgettable. I am still floored by it. I hope I am not building up expectation too much!

The funny thing about my ED100 and ED120 is that with my previous Quark (lighter contrast) I almost feel the ED100 (F9) had the edge over the ED120 (F7.5) visually, which seems to not make sense with the Quark being optimal at around F30 when you factor in the 4.3x integrated barlow. My new Quark, however, with more contrast, seems to have the edge in the ED120. Any theories on why that might be are most welcome!!

[David Smith]

'nuf said Luke

[Stu]

Sweet focuser, we have one on our dob

Visual versus imaging is really funny, for me personally, I have not seen a single solar h-alpha image that is very close to how it looks at the eyepiece. I guess something to do with eye/brain is very different to camera/computer screen, though exactly what that is, I don't know Dynamic range?

I find the view with my ED100 (and 120) breathtaking. Unforgettable. I am still floored by it. I hope I am not building up expectation too much!

The funny thing about my ED100 and ED120 is that with my previous Quark (lighter contrast) I almost feel the ED100 (F9) had the edge over the ED120 (F7.5) visually, which seems to not make sense with the Quark being optimal at around F30 when you factor in the 4.3x integrated barlow. My new Quark, however, with more contrast, seems to have the edge in the ED120. Any theories on why that might be are most welcome!!

Interesting, really looking forward to seeing it for myself

I had considered masking the 120 down to 100 as an experiment which would match the ED100 at f9

[Stardust]

Stunning images, just love the first one. I'm still waiting for my Quark might be shipping next week but we've been told this before so will have to follow what you guys get upto for now. 

[Pingster]

Hi Luke your photos using the Quark are amazing! Big thumbs up! And you say the view visually is even better! Gasp!

Im a bit confused as ive not seen picture via the quark loom so good and others saying the detail is not as good as their lunts. However looking at your photos the quark looks amazing. As good as any other solar scope i have ever look thru!

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[Luke]

Thanks, all, most kind!

Pingster, I can only speak for myself. In terms of detail at the eyepiece, Quark and ED100 is for me a very clear winner over SolarMax 60 double stack. The SM60 DS does have more contrast and of course is more portable, but detail-wise, it's not close

[smerral]

Super quarkage Luke!