laudropb

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome back. You do not want to miss Mars. It will not be this good until 2033.

Hello and a warm welcome back to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. The lack of scopes is all down to the pandemic. They nearly all come from China and the sipping of stocks has been badly affected.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

My Mars book arrived yesterday and I got a email from Amazon said the price had dropped £5 since I ordered back in June 👍

Amazon had actually refunded my money for both. When I re-ordered them both were £5 cheaper.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

A couple of books I had ordered via amazon pre-publication but were late, probably due to the pandemic. Noticed that they were showing on this thread so re-ordered them. Also the BAA handbook for 2021 came with the new journal. Always a very useful source of information.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

40 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I think it also depends how active the Sun is.

So far to date, I have not seen any with my TV Ranger and Lunt Herschel Wedge. Granulation was visible with afore-
mentioned 'scope and Thousand Oaks glass solar filter when the Sun was active during the last solar-maximum epoch.

Not sure about that. The granulation cells are at the top of the convection mechanism which carries heat from the lower regions to the photosphere where it is radiated out into space. This mechanism is continuous and as far as I am aware not affected by the solar cycle.

John it is a bit of both. The better the seeing the more likely you are to see the granulation no matter the size of the scope. The granules are only 1 to 2 arc seconds in diameter as seen from Earth , so quite high magnification is required as well. A bit like separating tight double stars in that the larger apertures will also give better resolution and make it a bit easier, but I have seen them using an ED 72 frac.

5 hours ago, John said:

Is this seeing related rather than aperture related ?

I'm not a frequent solar observer so I'm interested in the answer to this as well.

 

I use a Lunt Herschel wedge and a Baader solar continuum filter. I have seen the granulation in a ST 102  and in a ED 120 frac. One morning when the seeing was excellent I managed to view it with an ED 72 frac. I usually have to use magnifications between 150 to 180 x. It is easier to see near the centre of the disk, but it takes practice and patience. Sometimes when the seeing is not good you can notice it popping in and out of view during moments of steadier skys. I have found it easier to observe in the early mornings, say before 10 am in the summer, before the day heats up.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. A small Mak would be ideal for viewing the Moon.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome back to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

This is the same set up as I use. Only difference is that mine is used on a Solar quest tracking mount. I would suggest that you get a Lunt solar finder. Believe it or not it can be difficult to line up the Sun in the eyepiece. At first I would use this as a single stack unit until you get used to tuning and using the scope. The double stack dims the image but once you are used to it I allows you to see/image much finer chromosphere details.