Roy Challen

Super image! Cloudy all day here🙄

Cloudy here, may get an opportunity later.

According to astronomy.tools, a 15mm WO swan in a PST gives a true field of view of 2.7 degrees equating to approximately 7 million km at the distance of the sun. For something to leave the sun and disappear from the field of view in 0.5 seconds, it would have to be moving at...ludicrous speed😉. So, either my maths is utter rubbish (very possible), or you saw something that didn't originate from the sun.

Hmm, interesting question. I have watched proms extend from the limb out to about 3x earth diameter (very rough guess) in 20 mins or so, giving a very approximate speed of 100,000km/h. Assuming a perpendicular line of sight and that it is an average event,  I guess it's entirely possible to reach even higher speeds. Without knowing your TFoV, would be hard to have a guess at what you saw.

The Vixen combo sounds good, but I prefer my Baader classic plossl to the the NPL, if only Baader would add a 25mm to the range. The 18mm BCO still gives full disc views in a Solar scout but you'll need good seeing to be able to use it. I also like the winged eyecups on this range.

Didn't get on with the Televue 25mm plossl in my Solar scout. Byyeee!

That leaves Tak or ES from your list. Tak's reputation precedes, I doubt you'll go wrong there but I don't have any experience with those particular eps. I would go for the orthos, being a fan of orthos.

I didn't get on at all with ES 82s, but 52s? Might be worth a shout.

If it were my money, I'd choose the ESs over the Taks, for cost reasons, and the fact that Baader don't make a 25mm BCO or classic plossl.

Fantastic image!

4 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

How do you like the semiapo filter? I was looking at that too but just sort of cointossed towards the fringe killer for no particular reason.

My scope probably should be called a semi-achromat instead of a doublet. It has one Lanthanum element in the doublet objective but no FPL glass or anything so there is residual colour at high powers.

I think it's ok. I use solely with my f/16 achro, just leave it in the diagonal. Between the semi apo, fringe killer and contrast booster filters from Baader, it is the least aggressive, but also has the least colour cast. The contrast booster gives quite a yellow tone. @Chris did a good comparison video on his YouTube channel.

There is still some CA visible on the moon, but for me it's acceptable. Oh, it was cheap too - I bought it second hand.

I use a semi apo filter with my achro for white light, it's definitely an improvement than without.

100x is also about as far as I go for mags unless the seeing is exceptional.

Great st of images. That huge prom is still on show.

Oh, I thought this was going to be a thread about how a mak would cope with being thrown in a suitcase for foreign travel. To which the answer would be 'very well'.

But in this case, I would go with Mr.Magoo's suggestion of replacing the corrector.

I had one of these, I found it to be a very good low-mag double star splitter...in an f/16 achro. Probably the best Huygens around.

9 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Thanks Roy. Sun was incredible today. Four epic filaments as well as marvellous active regions

Yeah, some good stuff after the fairly quiet two weeks previous.

Show's over...for now. Keep your eyes on this one while it's here, it might be small but it's got a big punch!

Space weather says C5

Dimming noticeably, but still bright 

Tiny AR (3046?) started brightening very quickly at 8:12, still going on

12 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

 

I'd be concerned as to how they'd manage to maintain collimation too, didn't see any set screws in there to tweak the settings...

Bob's knobs...

On 22/06/2022 at 20:04, Highburymark said:

Very nice sketch! The huge filament has now started to show as a prominence, so should be even more impressive ‘filaprom’ tomorrow 

Yep, that filament is now a very impressive prom.

17 minutes ago, MonsterMagnet said:

So this turned up this morning and thus far it seems good - only had a quick look at some trees but hopefully I can give it a small test later tonight.  It's tiny, will definitely be no problem in the hand luggage on any trip.

 

MM

Hand luggage? That'll fit in yer pocket!

I have a 60 Ha scope and a 76mm a achro I use for white light. The achro shows far more sunspot detail due to the extra aperture.

For an 8" scope, maybe there won't be much difference between a, say, 6" or 8" mask. Try it and see.

I'm pretty sure you'll get great views either way.

There's a lot going on in WL at the mo, isnt there?

My Skymax 90, Altair Mini AZ, carbon tripod, Hyperflex zoom and a 30mm plossl come in at well under 5kg and it all fits into a rucksack that no airline has ever felt the need to question the dimensions of, and I do a lot of flying.

You can even fit in some t shirts, shorts, and underwear should you feel the need!

Long haul flights usually have a weight limit of 7-8kg but some airlines allow an additional 'personal' bag of up to 5kg eg a handbag or camera bag.

Well, the clouds have arrived here too, but the display looks like it'll be going on for a while.

5 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Cloudy here but it looks like a large prom lift-off on GONG.   🙂

Yup, it had already lifted off when I started observing, but there seems to be ebb and flow to it, with streams of plasma falling back down, or is it going back up?😄

Still there, still changing. I jope someone is getting this on camera.