Ewan

Thank you, just a shame it didn't last longer

Usual rig:- 152mm Tecnosky Refractor F5.9 AZEQ6-GT Mount Baader 135mm D-ERF Daystar Quark (giving F30) Daystar Interference Eliminator Point Grey IMX174 5.6um Seeing 5/10 Genika Astro, AS!3, ImPPG Added an ImPPG screenshot showing how to obtain this look if anyone is wondering. 104 captures, 250Gb of data for this animation. Start time 2:56:46 PM End 3:52:30 PM 12 second captures @ 6Ms, Gain 14000, Gamma 1, Mono 8Bit Resolution 1280 X 1024 165 FPS Atb ImPPG Settings.bmp

Good results there 👍, shame the weather isn't so cooperative but lots of sunny ones to come. I've a feeling this year could produce some of the biggest spots seen...fingers crossed. Keep it up buddy 😉

152mm Tecnosky Refractor F5.9 AZEQ6-GT Mount Baader 135mm D-ERF Daystar Quark (giving F30) Daystar Interference Eliminator Point Grey IMX174 5.6um Seeing 5/10, through thin clouds at times Genika Astro, AS!3, ImPPG 30 second captures usually at 6Ms, best 10% of frames stacked. Managed a few sets of varying data, none taken through clear blue skies so lucky to get anything. All captures are only 8Bit, some of the captures taken using RAW mode as even at full resolution the IMX174 can hit 163 frames a second. Atb & have a great Bank Holiday +16 Like Comment Share

Awesome set !

Thank you, not long after getting the 152mm & IMX174 & posting a few images it seemed like a lot of imagers went the same route, it is a good setup & the 5.6um with the camera is a good match for the 152mm. Only thing i will stress about the Quark if you own one then you really need to do test runs with the heater settings to find what one is best & it may not be the best for all sessions either. Atb

Honestly the seeing for that day wasn't that good, cloud dodging at times plus the sun seemed to have that 'high white misty' look to it, i was surprised at some of the detail. I do captures at 3-6ms & limit them to 30 seconds only. I did make a small change to the amount of tilt & did an 'on band test' before capturing.

Thank you, as i live right on the coast, surrounded by victorian hot roof houses & this was the afternoon even i was a little surprised tbh, always worth having a go though Atb

Very kind, thank you. I use Genika Astro for captures, AS!2 314 64Bit (think thats correct) for stacking & just ImPPG for processing. As my 152mm is only F5.9 the ratio would be a little low for the Quark tbh, i went with the 135mm D-ERF as its clear aperture is 125mm so with the Quark it my rig is at F30, having read quite a bit over the years & trial & error i masked the scope down to 100mm to get to F38 but still testing this out tbh. Been testing the heater setting on mine & on the 17th found that -3 gave the best on band display. I also altered the tilt amount on the Interference Eliminator to about 50%, i can still see very faint banding but nothing a flat frame cannot sort out. Trial & error & testing your kit pays dividends in the end.

Your right Maw, it is what drew me away from DSS imaging, that & lack of sleep 😉

Hi buddy, the weather...cor, it's been something else hasn't it, I remember about 5-6 years ago it rained sI'd for 13 weeks, got to be good soon surely. Some half decent seeing played a large part, as it's still not that warm I started the heater on -3 instead & it seemed to give best results, I also changed the tilt applied to over half as I am sure it can cost you in making the bandpass wider giving less contrast.

Indeed, with that D-ERF size & frac my rig was at F30 but higher ratios should give a tighter bandpass

It's been quite a while since i have posted here, new things, new media, busy life & terrible UK weather, but i shall endeavor to remedy that. My solar season got delayed by about six weeks with the constant rain but finally managed to get some afternoon sun on the 17th April, well worth the wait & the Quark got to stretch it's legs once more. I tried running the rig at F38 but not 100% i noticed any difference to be fair, i plan on doing some F ratio tests when i get the chance though. Atb solar peeps

Thanks Den, life got seriously hectic for me & i lost touch with the forum & sometimes trying to fit everything in just was not doable, good to be posting again though & glad to see your still here fella 😉

Cheers, roughly an hour. Those particular 'events' were extremely fast on my capture screen in real time so best bet is fast exp time for less time otherwise you can end up stacking blury frames, I was at 6 or 7ms on those 2 but tbh honest 3-4ms for 5 secs would have been better.