Steve Ward

Finally got a patch of blue to play in after an age of grey ... 

Awful seeing but found 26 frames to stack from 400 shot.

Canon 6D + Evostar 150 + 2x Barlow + Baader ND3.8 +Oiii.

Did you clean the back of the rubber keypad buttons as well ... ?

And clouds have baffled him before ... 😄

It's not moving half as fast as it does in this other video on his/that channel , classic footage from what I suspect is the flat-earthers favourite the Nikon P1000.

7 minutes ago, Oortraged said:

This is one of the most sophisticated trolls I have ever encountered.

I think the word is persistent ... 😄

You've received the same correct explanations now , from numerous individuals , on both of the most respected astronomy forums on the planet ... 

I fail to see how you are going to be convinced as to the answer as it's obviously not the cranky , conspiracy based , answer you were looking for ... 😉

Pete Lawrence is headed to Greenland if that's any help ... 😄

Personally I'm biding my time until the year after when I'm heading to Sfax , Tunisia which will deliver over six minutes of totality as opposed to the measley 1:45 or so in '26 .... 😉

3 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks Steve! Looks useful. 

What I did notice, which was interesting, was the arc second resolutions. Not sure if these are a representative sample for my area all year round, but if they are, then a 4" apo would see all there was to see most of the time, at least visually. I use the phrase " most of the time", because clearly, with prolonged sitting at a larger aperture scope I'm sure occasionally there will be moments of sub arcsecond seeing, where the scope would shine. But, nevertheless, it makes the 4"apo more attractive. 

I'll be honest and say that I've never found it all that accurate , but I'm mainly solar imaging and daytime conditions vary wildly depending on location , time of day etc , hence my "get out while it's clear" approach.

If I waited for perfectly transparent blue sky and super seeing I'd never get any glass aimed at it .

I would add that you shouldn't get too hung up waiting for the best conditions but get out there when the sky is clear and enjoy.

Visually there are always moments of stillness even when the average seeng is poor , it's just a matter of patience and waiting for those to occur and details to pop.

Imaging-wise for solar , lunar and planetary the high framerate camera , lucky imaging approach works wonders .

Damien's articles are good readings , just remember that when he grabs his best images these days he's sat by a swimming pool in the Bahamas ... 😉

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/sheffield_united-kingdom_2638077

Easiest way is to post them on Facebook/Instagram , preferably in various groups with NASA , SPACE or SCIENCE in the title , and let all the flat earth , NASA-hating ignoramuses loose in the comments sections ... 😄

If you also intentionally add a 'mistake' in the description the likes and comments will flood in making you millions ... 

@Rusted

Don't let yourself get dragged into his nonsensical waffling.

He'll be coming up with the iron sun "ferrets" nonsense soon and then hopping on the ever descending spiral that he's ridden to the depths on every other astronomy forum out there before heading back to his master Apollo Lasky's lap to lick his wounds yet again.

This would be better off being sent packing to Reddit , the last bastion of snake-oil mutterings .

36 minutes ago, Mark_C said:

Oh wow, that really is rather bad! How does your images look once the flat has been subtracted?

Fair to middling I'd say ... 😉

https://www.astrobin.com/search/?q=Zakalwe&d=i&subject=&telescope=&camera=&date_published_min=2011-11-09&date_published_max=2024-04-09&sort=-published

7 minutes ago, Mark_C said:

Thanks for the responses all! Really appreciate the feedback. I guess it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who has these uneven illumination issues with this filter. To be fair with the flats taken and subtracted within Sharpcap the results are fairly good (i think) although I'm no solar expert.

I've attached a picture - this was taken with an Evostar ED120 and UV-IR cut filter. I've not had a proper chance to test the different dial settings of my quark because the weather has been so rubbish over the past 6 months that it clouds over before I get a chance to try each setting! This picture has been taken with the dial set at 0 from a set of 1000 frames.

I've just read through this thread and this is very dissapointing to see, had I known this beforehand I probably would have avoided buying this filter, as the CN thread does not represent Daystar in a good light.

 

I think the attraction of being able to put this filter on a long FL scope such as the ED120 to get close in details drew me in more than the risk of getting something that may not have worked properly!

 

I've seen a lot worse than that , as far as I'm aware FLO send their Quarks to be checked over by Gary Palmer before they're released into the wild so it should be one of the better ones.

I think you need to give it a proper session running right through the temperature settings visually before jumping into imaging so that you can find the sweetspot.

And remember that your local seeing will ultimately determine the image quality , more aperture is not necessarily better .

Perfectly normal for a Daystar product and perfectly acceptable as far as Daystar are concerned ... 

Their customer service and T&Cs are pretty appalling so good luck dealing with them should the unit have to go back to them.

This recent long-running thread over on Cloudy Nights should give you an inkling into their attitude and the reason why I will never go down the Quark route ... 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/909154-daystar-filters’-sr-127-‘qt’-dedicated-hydrogen-alpha-solar-telescope-chromosphere-model/

It's a shame the cameras weren't aligned the same , confusing watching the moon approach from different directions each time and seeing that prom move around the disc ... 

I'm more curious about the second "contraption" that pops up swinging from the ceiling ... love the cross-eyed finderscopes ... 😄

There are numerous threads over on CN regarding "Classic 'scopes in film and TV" to trawl through which might help shed light ... 😊

Interesting report from the team regarding satellite impact on the project , it's not just the amateurs that are fed up with Musk ... 😉

https://www.lsst.org/content/lsst-statement-regarding-increased-deployment-satellite-constellations

1 hour ago, WolfieGlos said:

Well I think we’ve found the source of this constant cloud cover 

3200 megapixels is incredible, I wonder how large a file a single sub would be 🤯

Can't find a  figure for a single sub , yet.

But the nightly data figures are pretty impressive .... 😲

https://www.lsst.org/scientists/keynumbers

Dataset properties:
Nightly data size: 20TB/night
Final database size (DR11) : 15 PB
Real-time alert latency : 60 seconds

https://astrosolar.com/en/information/how-to/how-to-make-an-inexpensive-filter-cell/

A 100-150mm offset filter will be more than adequate unless you are lucky enough to have near-perfect seeing from your location.

Without that quality of seeing the 350mm full aperture will be completely overkill .

35 minutes ago, LukeTheNuke said:

Hello there, Mr Ward! Good to see you back in the saddle! Yeah, I know you posted this a while ago. Did it require climbing up any ladders for the time of year?!

Hi Luke ,

Welcome back.

Back at my childhood home these days so no more ladders and 14' piers ... 😄

PA's obviously not good ... sorry to be honest.