Merlin66

Call this a "proof of concept" Only twenty images with 30 sec interval - SM60DS/ ED80/ ASI 1600 Processed FireCapture, AS3!, Imppg, Irfanview, Corono and convert to GIF in PIPP. Hopefully there will be other opportunities to observe the sun, I'll try for a longer animation. (Thanks to Martin S. for all the help and support) Enjoy.

Damian, If you use a Quark then I think you'll still need a x5 reducer to achieve full disk imaging. The solar disk (and the Lunar disk) is approx 1/100 the focal length, with 816 fl = 8.2mm, 980 fl = 9.8mm I agree at an f ratio >f20 is good with the ASI 174MM (5.86micron pixel), but the chip size 7.13 x 11.34mm means you can't get a full disk image. This was one of the drivers for me to go to an ASI 1600MM, smaller pixel (3.6 micron) and larger chip (13.4 x 17.7mm) this gives very good results for me on the ED80 (600mm fl) with a x1.6 Barlow (=960 fl, f12) When the seeing allows I can use either the x2.5 Powermate, or the ES x3 Barlow......

Paul, If you can configure a reference lamp arrangement where you can "easily" switch from say Neon (Ha region) to the RELCO (Hb region) that would be great. I think we both agree on the DIY need for a separate slit/ guider module. Ken

I suppose you're correct. Nothing that more aperture and larger ($$$$$) filters couldn't fix. Edit: With the single stack/ED80/ ASI 1600 I can get around 50 fps for the proms.....

Freddie, With the ASI 174 and a selected ROI I can get up to 400 fps on the spectroheliograph. Imaging proms with the double stack SM60 on an ED80, sometimes I'm lucky to get above 15 fps with the ASI 1600 and ROI. That's also using gain 139 and gamma 50 under Firecapture.

Jon, I used this adaptor on the spectroscope, worked well. I didn't experience any tilt issues.

For proms...based on some animation trials I'm doing, I think 2000 frames may be working against you. AS3! sorts the "best" frames but these are selected from the whole pile of 2000 frames....if there's movement within the prom in the time taken for the video (50 sec or so?) then stacking the "best" may give a poor result. I'm thinking of a run of 400-500 frames (10 sec or so) and going for the top 100 frames may be a better strategy. Just my 2c

The FPL51/53 is just one of the elements in the lens design........

IMHO the FPL 51 v’s FPL 53 is all marketing hype.... The average punter will be hard pressed to see any difference......

Thanks for that. I'll certainly add it to my "trial" list. Appreciated. Ken

Yes. Different bandwidths, different results.

Rusted, Look at the background noise in the 10 frame image..... it improves with 100 frames and almost disappears with a 1000. I'd start with 100/2000 and look at 300-500/2000. Just my 2c.

Rusted, Compare 100/2000 "quality frames" with say 500/2000 or even 1000/2000. I find in AS3! that sometimes the best 30 or 50% give as good results....

Freddie, I was thinking of surface features... I agree 100% for proms you need to push the histogram to give the best exposure for the individual prom.

I use an ED80 with an ASI 1600MM CMOS camera, the cooled version is much superior to the colour DSLR. I would recommend if you’re comfortable with the mono path.

Hmmm The surface detail....the difference between a single stack and the Quark??

Thanks.... OK I did a trial run of 400 frames every 30 sec with the ASI 1600 under FireCapture , AS3! To prepare images and then wasted a couple of hours with PS5 and PSP before “refinding” PIPP. I wasn’t using any tracking only Sidereal rate on the HEQ5. well surprise surprise, PIPP seemed to do a good job of producing a GIF. Need to do more experiments but so far so good.

Interesting solution....better suited to photographic tripods. The "head" of the AZ3 is much higher than the central pivot, due to the slo-mo worm and the size of the head v's the top of the tripod legs I think would mean that the wooden arm needs to be >6 inches and then the scope mounted underneath has a high risk of hitting the tripod legs......

On the ZWO website they have all the gain setting for all the cameras... https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asi174mm The zero gain setting gives maximum image depth..... Don't know about SharpCap settings, sorry.

The overlay comes from Tilting Sun3 https://www.atoptics.co.uk/tiltsun.htm To get the correct orientation (North to the top) I just position the solar disk in the camera FOV and move the mount Dec up and down watching the solar image move....rotate the camera until it slides up and down the FOV parallel to the edge. With the SM60/ BF15 I get a reversed image and have to horizontal flip....

Adam, Last question.... What software did you use to combine the images into a video? (I'm looking at FireCapture "Autorun" to make a series of 400+ frames every +/-30 sec)

Adam, Thanks for that!

I agree, it's an individual thing.... The hedgerow prom is certainly looking impressive! The GONG image overlaid with a 15 deg grid shows how close it is to the solar south pole.

Adam, Very good! How many frames and interval between images??

Both. You can improve the image using ImPPG - just less L-R deconvolution and Unsharp masking. Watch the curves settings... Aim for a smoother surface look......