BGazing

7 hours ago, Steve Clay said:

Well now taking a break for lunch.

1st session 2:30  the little battery has used 1 out of 5 bars, so should last for 5 hours powering the mount and the quark.

I've found that the 12 oclock setting shows the best surface detail and -3 for proms. 

The solar quest mount kept the proms which were on the NW limb smack in the  center of the FOV throughout. 

EP used is a no name 33mm plossil and works great. Tried my 25mm BST and the view was blown out. Also tried a polarising filter on the 33mm and it teased out a bit more contrast.

Looking like the set-up is a winner. Totally over the moon or should that be sun.

Steve

As someone chimed in when I waxed lyrical about my first light with Quark, prepare for H-alpha madness. Days are long and nights are short, timely purchase.

I'm kinda surprised your prominence-surface spread is 3 clicks...but whatever works! I viewed that GIANT prom today on -5 and it showed the plague region nice, too.

Also, tried it on AYO and not on tracking mount and...hey, it works, magnifications are not really that high. So do not be afraid to put it on manual altaz if necessary. Also, what you will see is that the thinnest cloud can wipe out all detail suddenly. Seeing and transparency is much more important for H-alpha than for white light, IMHO.

Hi Andy,

Buying your first refractor is going to hurt you long time, simply because you are going to buy more of them in the future.

You currently have 5 inch Mak (I used to have it), 6 inch newt and want another scope. I guess you have the mount to go with those scopes, hopefully at least in the EQ5 class. 

I do not know how good your seeing is, whether it supports bigger aperture, but here are my two cents:

If you go for SCT, go for 8 inches, perfect size unless you are into bying a hefty mount.

If you go for a frac, 100mm ED is a great instrument, but will not give you wide fields to compliment your mak. It's a fantastic scope, though. 

Whatever you get you can get rid of 6 inch newt, it would be redundant and, IMHO, has the worst optics and mechanics out of all the scopes mentioned. It does have one inch over Mak but plenty of coma at low powers and is less sharp at high powers.

The problem is that 100 ED is too close to the Mak, but then again, Mak is better if you need to pack it for travel on some ultralight mount. Visually they would perform pretty close.

19 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

Post the issue on "Solarchat", I'm sure the experts on there would be most interested.      🙂

Seconded.

47 minutes ago, astro_al said:

Thanks @BGazing

But just to be clear, what you are describing is most unusual. I would absolutely not expect it to show anything remotely interesting when unpowered for 5 hours. I am completely baffled.

Don't know what to say...if your Quark is on band at your ambient temperature at the moment, it is unusable at any other temperature and you cannot heat it or cool it properly in order to perform. Contact your dealer and/or Daystar.

No power could not possibly be better than -5.

-5 and then switching off and having a short time span where it is better than -5 means that -5 setting is too high for that particular Quark and I would ask for replacement. As the etalon cools or heats the view will not be uniform, and as it further cools the fact that there is no heating meansthat you can not control its temp until it rests at the ambient temperature.

My point being, if turning off at -5 results in a fleeting moment of picture being better (less than 1 min) than its -5 setting is too high.

11 hours ago, astro_al said:

The closest I have seen to a white light view is when the Quark is +5, so max power. I see nice proms on -5, I also see nice proms and the best surface detail (so far) when the Quark is off. At the moment I am not understanding what powering the Quark gives me. 

Seeing best proms and surface detail at -5 suggests that this is your Quark's 'on band' setting.

Seeing them best when it is unpowered (as opposed to -5) suggests that 'on band' is outside of the temperature range of your particular Quark. Ask for replacement, but NOT before verifying that unpowered is indeed better than -5. Make sure it is.

Heating brings etalon 'on band'. Turning the knob represents a range of temperatures and one of them should be 'perfect' for your etalon to come on band.

4 hours ago, Dr Strange said:

Hard cases are expensive but done correctly will provide unrivaled protection including protection from the shaved apes at the luggage facilities at airports. You can get custom ATA cases that are used to transport scientific and professional audio/video/photography equipment on line. They are expensive but not as expensive as you might think. Another option is the Pelican line of cases. These too are used to transport scientific and professional AVP equipment. And again are expensive but not as expensive as you might think. There is a site: https://mycasebuilder.com that will make custom inserts for you. In general 50cm or more of protection on each side of the equipment is recommended.

I use Pelican cases for my eyepieces, binoviewers, my travel scopes, and my AZ-GTi mount. For scopes transporting via car I don't use any protection because I am driving and am more careful than others would be. For air travel, like I said, my scopes, EP, and mount are in Pelican cases. The other value of them is I can put zip ties or a lock on them to keep sticky fingers out of them. I clearly label everything and the cases pass X-Ray with no problem so there is zero reason for the US TSA to be going into them. If a lock or zip tie is cut I immediately call out the police and won't touch the case other than to remove it from the belt. 

I hope we can agree that the level of protection needed for checked-in luggage and something that is in the luggage compartment of one's car is different.

Now, whether checked-in luggage is the option in the near future...that is another issue.

Looking at your signature, I would say that a soft bag is sufficient. Small catadioptrics and the assorted equipment can fit into a good photo bag or photo Rucksack.

Hard cases are normally not necessary, we all tend to baby the heck out of our equipment, though.

I bought mine with TS more than a year ago (FLO was not yet selling them). They also advertise with 'we test it on the Sun before we ship it'.

Well it arrived with what appeared to be a smudge on the back red filter. It took me a while to figure out that the best setting for it is -5 (all the way CCW).

Honestly, I expect that 'testing on the sun' would also involve figuring out where the best setting is, as on the other settings the Sun appears featureless. 

My Quark has been serving me well and it is one of the best purchases I have made, completely transformed my observing patterns.

I am sure a double stacked 80mm Ha Scope would be better, or a more expensive Ha back etalon...however...

Here's a link with my experiences

1 hour ago, astro_al said:

I believe the Solar Scout is an integrated Quark and scope package sold by DayStar so what is shown in the video would be the same scenario for me when I unplugged my Quark. I am now wondering if I should cancel my order for new binoviewers and get a camera instead  

If you want to dim the image a bit try single polarizing filter and put it on EP. Quark is already polarized do by rotating you may dim the image and keep the resolution instead of stopping it down. I think at f/32 (which is your 7.5) the f is good enough for the Quark to operate as it should...

On 04/05/2020 at 23:18, astro_al said:

I am using a 3” F7.5 scope.
The Quark is set fully CCW at -5 and I even turned off the power today to see if the view changed much, and it didn’t. Going past 0 to +5 there is a big change with the views becoming more like those I see in white light. I believe that -5 is the lowest temperature setting so I am wondering if when I replace the UV/IR with the 35nm Ha filter if the internal temperature will drop and require a higher setting on the Quark. We will see, hopefully tomorrow.
I am also going to stop the aperture down to 60mm once a friend has printed this for me. This will move the scope from F32 to about F40. The image today is quite bright and I read on CN that a higher FR helps with the contrast of the surface details. Something else to experiment with.
I am sure the seeing is a contributing factor, coupled with the higher magnification when compared to my white light setup. I can see that there is detail, it’s just not very clear. 

If you turn the power off the view will not change much immediately. But it will degrade and become featureless soon. It takes longer for it to cool than to heat normally.

I tried stopping from 71 to 62 in my 5.6 refractor (have a stopping ring). This stops it to 6.42, so overall f27. Image gets dimmer and a bit more contrasty, I'd say, but not sure if due to bigger f or because the image is dimmer and easier to look at.

@BillP thank you for the review!

You wrote also that "Looking at the prism surfaces visible from the ClickLock Eyepiece Holders or visible from T2 Cap Nut Connector of the MaxBright II, one can see that the reflected light from the 7-layer multi-coatings on the prism's optical surface (called reflex color).  This color is not what is usually seen on astronomy equipment, which typically is anywhere from purple-blue for single coated optics to green for many multicoated optics.  According to Baader Planetarium this more unusual color on the MaxBright II is the result of their specialized coatings that are specifically tuned to have the highest possible transmittance in the same spectrum where the human eye has its highest sensitivity (green light).  This was done is an effort to make the MaxBright II's views as visually bright as possible."

Would that mean that the transmission is lower in the reds, including H-alpha? Lower as in lower than in typical budget binos?

Well I have 47 mm clicklock extension on my Tak which was bought beause with a T2 diagonal I was 'neither here nor there' so I had to take things on and off for reachin focus when doing white solar with barlow, this was perfect. 

If you want something further up your tube you may use something like this (chose the longer one, 28mm)

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-finetuning-ring.html

but it is by no means a must, especially on 80mm scope.

Also, it is recommended not to screw the filter in tightly, so as to allow it to expand if necessary under load.

22 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Richard the black cover came from Telescope House many years ago. However, since then I bought a Hood from this company which is better - 

https://r-sky.org/en/products/observing-hood

In my case I bought the dark hood for DSO observing but they do make a solar hood - see bottom of page.

Several members on the forum have bought from them in Russia and I never had a problem.

R-Sky is great, never a problem with them, fast and cheap shipping and good products. Solar hood is a godsend.

19 hours ago, Steve Clay said:

I've decided I'm going to buy a quark chromosphere.

Will my ed80 be a good match?

2 inch or 1.25 diagonal?

ERF l guess not strictly necessary but I might want to use my ed120 too.

What power supply for the quark. Needs to be portable. No other power necessary as manual mount.

Thanks

Ste0ve

 

ED 80 will be fine. Telecentric barlow in the Quark will bring it over f/30, which is enough.

Internal ERF should be sufficient for ED80 and, as per Daystar, on 120 too. Putting it further up the tube (ahead of diagonal on extension tube) would help. You need to use something that cuts BOTH UV and IR: UV/IR cut, Neodymium (IR-cut version) or 35nm. 2 inch diagonal is pretty much a a must if you want internal ERF, as this is the place where you mount your filter in 2 inch diagonal it will meet the light cone earlier.

Any portable phone charging battery capable of supplying 2A would do. Unfortunately, they all tend to cut off when no power is necessary.  So does Celestron Power Tank...

Make sure to test it for the 'best' setting. Do not assume that 0 setting will be on band. Mine is on band fully CCW (-5).

4 hours ago, paulastro said:

Many thanks Andrew.  I tend to be on the higher side of yourself Andrew with the 120ED,  on Mars at opposition I would use 300x plus depending on seeing.  I do use a binoviewer though which is much better than single eye pieces, at least for me anyway..  I find using a binoviewer also just about eliminates floaters under most circumstances

Andrew?

I tried 212x (that's 3.5mm) on Jupiter only once when the seeing was superb, and then only to enlarge some details at the expense of losing color. It was not bad but the view became almost monochrome. Below 0.7 exit pupil Jupiter quickly becomes bland. Mars, on the other hand...

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

No, it's an AZ EQ6. The 5 wouldn't support such a heavy and long scope.

The Tak TSA 120 is on FLO's site.

Thanks...I see it now, bizarre that it is not available from the drop down menu, or I am not seeing it...

@JeremyS congratulations! You sourced it through@FLO but I do not see it listed...so they ordered it on the side for you?

Is that Az-EQ5 you put it on? If yes, how do you rate that mount?

7 hours ago, paulastro said:

Andrew s said:

Pending a new thread. Taking the definition of empty magnification as making the image scale such that the images highest resolution components are over sampled by the eye (I.e. the eye could fully resolve it at a lower magnification) then if the illumination is high enough and the atmosphere steady enough then there should be no issue.

Andrew.  Regarding the illumination being high enough, this is what I think of  myself as meaning 'empty magnification' .     I have discussed this issue with Mike several times.  I'm sure Mikes DZ will, on nights of excellent seeing, be capable of 'taking' magnification even higher than the x500 Mike has already used on Venus with this scope.  For me at least, even with the superb optics of the DZ, at x500 power on a planet, with my aging eyesight the image would be too dim for me to pick out some  features which I may pick up at x250 or so with no problem.  This is why, my preference is for a SW 120ED to any of the FC 100mm refractors, the 120 providing me the opportunity to work with higher magnifications than I could with the 100 mm scope.  In passing, the theoretical better resolution of the 120 is of no account, as I don't often get sub-arc second seeing unfortunately at home.  Also the superior quality of the Tak optics would probably beat the practical resolution of the SW optic when the seeing is particularly good anyway.

I'd be interested to hear what others think about this.

My DF mags are as follows:

Moon in good seeing - 185x, if superb 212x, if iffy, 150.

Jupiter 150x, Saturn 150-185x. Mars 185-212x. Venus what the seeing allows but not more than 212x.

260x on Moon if seeing is stupendous. I have not tried 250x on Mars, did not have the EP at the time.

At 185x my floater population is still not intrusive. At 212x it is borderline acceptable. 

Except for the Moon and Mars, other Solar system targets get dim for me with additional magnification. Moon can take it but then the floaters kick in.

My 'good' seeing caps at around 200x, so it is not I am missing much normally. My more common 'not great not terrible' seeing is around 150x.

Congrats! 

If I understand correctly, the dew shield is 'shallower' than that on the DC and DF? I used dew shield on my Tak only in extremely dewy conditions, normal usage does not require it.

On 08/04/2020 at 03:55, LRoulin said:

Hi, BGazing!

I would be very interested to hear about the truss poles stabiliser you mentioned. Did you receive them? Also, are you still struggling with collimating the scope?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Clear skies,

Ludovic

Ludovic, hi.

I got the stabilizers. I did not have the opportunity to test them in the field. The thing is, they sort of protrude a bit from the trusses and my current shroud was made too tight so I was afraid I would rip it. I widened the shroud a bit but a new one is on its way from Heather. 

I think that the issue is not the stability of the poles per se, but structural - the upper cage is light and the trusses are light so looking lower naturally invites a bit of a sag. But that was to be expected, seriously I knew it was super lightweight.

I was getting better with collimation. Basically, what I did not know was that I have to 'register' laser with TWO out of three screwes for repeated registration and to then 'register' the ep the same way, ensuring that focuser does not introduce tilt. I checked the laser by rotating it through Borg focuser and it did not flinch, so Farpoint laser is indeed as advertised, well collimated out of the box. But one has to make sure that one registers both the collimating laser and the EPs in the same way.

Attaching secondary - I got better at it. It is still not super fun, but that is the price for taking it on and off every time.

I have to say that during two tests I had on M42 in February the scope performed well and that most of the problems were induced by me not understanding the 'registering' bit or not securing something firmly and then wondering why it felt wobbly.

Alkaid was supposed to debut at our dark place in the galaxy season...cue Covid quarantine. Fingers crossed I will be able to take it out in May under some dark skies...

13 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Got one here supplied new last year waiting for the present situation to sort itself out before returning it as it no  longer lets any light through.

Dave

Uh oh...

6 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Six different Quarks over the years.

Dave

Oh yes, I remember there was a horror story or two in there...

Looks like they are not THAT bad recently.