My first solar Ha, 27.02.2015

[philj]

After much fighting with PS and rending of hair and clothes

My first ever solar Halpha, so be gentle with me

Sun in Halpha 27/02/15 0930 hours

Scope Lunt 60 with B1200 blocking filter, camera QHY IMGOH mono

2 frames, 1 exposed for proms and one for disc, masked and merged in PS. Each frame 2500 frames stacked and waveletted in Registax

I actually took a load more shots for a full disc mosaic but that's it for the mo, one faltering step at a time eh    

[JB80]

Cracking first go.

Well done.

[philj]

Ta John, apart from masking and merging in PS I enjoyed doing it. Ha solar has given my astro a new Buzz, I was getting a little jaded but this is great

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice first shot. Excellent work.

[Zakalwe]

I wish that my first Solar image was half as good as this one!

[Hyperion76]

great shot full of detail

[philj]

Ta folks, Ive had a bit of practice in white light with film then wedge so I spose that's helped a bit but I like Ha better  

[Montana]

Absolutely fantastic!! I am so glad you had fun too :)

Alexandra

[spaceboy]

Looks like a great first effort to me

[Luke]

That's a stunning first, very well done to you, you should be proud

I have to warn you, solar imaging can get rather addictive.

[sooot]

Great first image and it only gets better. You will want to double stack it soon

[Davey-T]

Nicely done Phil, I got a bit suicidal trying to mosaic with the LS60 so bought Skyris 274 for full disc in one go

Dave

[philj]

Thanks folks

Nicely done Phil, I got a bit suicidal trying to mosaic with the LS60 so bought Skyris 274 for full disc in one go

Dave

 Im just discovering the trials involved in mosaic with this camera, Ive given up for tonight. I did try my Atik 314 but things went wobbly for some reason, mount stopped responding and I couldn't get the exposure down on the Atik without filters. So before I could get a filter on the mount went dotty, low volts, I hadn't charged the pack for awhile.

[Pete Presland]

Brilliant 1st image gotta be happy with that one.

[DrRobin]

Excellent Phil, a great first image.  Adding false colour seems to be a bit hit and miss until you get the swing of it, it is just practice.  I like the false colour images but you see more detail in mono so you might like to process it both and then decide which is best?

I used a 0.5x FR on my Lunt this morning to get the sun in one go through a small gap in the clouds.  The field on my Lunt 60 DS with such a wide view is not really even enough, but a bit of careful tuning will just about do it.  No problem for the single stack though.

Mosaics are whole other ball game.  I take 12 panes with my Lunt 60, getting about 30% overlap on each pane.  I try to tune my Lunt to get a flat field, but crop the frames to remove any bright bits round the edges.  I stack each pane, apply a small amount of sharpening, crop slightly and then use Autostitch to assemble the mosaic.  Finally, a bit more sharpening, micro contrast adjust, orientate, brightness and contrast and then false colour.  I use a small amount of saturation to bring out the deep red colour.

Robin

[Gazabone]

Excellent shot, nicely done.

[philj]

Thanks forthat Robin, I must try my 0.5x reducer next time. The tuning of the lunt took a little getting used to but was straightforward and I can imagine with full disc a bit of juggling is required. Some useful tips, thanks

[philj]

Been having a play at mosaic, yep you can see the joins but its a first go so Ive a lot to learn

Colour and mono now to combine with the proms next oooer what have I got into  

[philj]

And now full disc with proms, phew  had to remember masking tricks quite a lot on this

[DrRobin]

Sterling effort Phil. Joins, yes, but only just and what a great full disc. Practice makes perfect and I had a lot of practice to get an image this good.

Robin

[philj]

Thanks Robin, still got a lot to learn. Flats are next on the agends

[DrRobin]

We are all on the learning curve Phil. New people and new ideas come in all of the time and push the envelope. That is the great thing about this game, everyone can contribute.

Robin