BGazing

That would be around 30x, so Baader plossl was able to take the entire disk and then some? Did you have to move the scope to frame the entire prom?

Dunno if anyone caught it, I did. Seeing was iffy so I used 40mm for a straw-like experience in Quark. Nevertheless, what a huge magma-like pool of a flare, next to that gigantic AR3014 sunspot group. H-alpha rules and the current cycle seems very very promising.

Filters work irrespective of the aperture as long as you use a correct exit pupil. I used UHC and OIII in my 71mm refractor to see the whole of the bigger nebulas (Veil and N. America).

Any news?

Hm, I am currently looking at Lunt 60 and 80 options and, for some reasons, EU and UK prices are exorbitant. Looks like I could order directly from the US, crazy to think that it might turn out to be a cheaper option. Started with a Quark, now pondering whether to go 60 DS or 80 SS with a possible DS upgrade at some point.

Found it... http://www.astrosurf.com/viladrich/astro/instrument/solar/FP.htm

Interesting question, I guess it depends on the conditions (both at one's observing site and at a particular GONG site) and the equipment. I use Quark, more often in 100mm than in 70mm, minimum magnification at 40mm plossl in a bigger scope is around 77x, but the view is constricted. Normal good seeing is 95x, and at that power proms are pretty good and if the seeing is stable there's considerable surface detail to be discerned. At 125x prom finesse disappears but they get really impressively big, seeing permitting. Filaments are usually the most difficult to see, I guess they benefit from somewhat lower power. I'll try binos in 70mm, in 100mm there was vignetting, don't know if that is because of the size of the etalon or because of the size of that 12mm blocking filter. I am mulling splashing on a 80mm Lunt, so curious to hear what are the upper limits of your solar scopes with and without the binos. How significant is DS dimming?

They do not shift it off band but the bandpass becomes wider. There were some useful calculations on other forums, I cannot find them right now. Around f/30 you get what it advertised, tighter filters are more sensitive to ratio above f/30. Quark has a built-in 4.2x telecentric.

gimme gimme gimme motorized version

Any ETA?

Lovely, @Stu, is that Planet it is sitting on?

Can't help wondering...why do you use vibration dampers on grass and first dig out little foxholes for them?

Oklop bags are great. Disclaimer: they are made in Serbia and I got mine for FC 100 DF from them as a freebie for helping them with fit and finish of their C8 design. I believe it is one labeled as a EQ5 tripod bag. DF travelled with me a LOT in that one and all is good.

Had no idea that they make even a special mounting plate for TTS.

Life is short and that mount is not light to carry around the older one gets. 😁

Thanks for the update. I was under the impression that the beta testing units were shipped a while ago, probably misread. So realistically at least 9 more months, if not more...

Any news on the motorized version?

Well... What magnification did you use? I see that your telescope comes with two eyepieces, I guess the higher powered one? It is still not enough for details. You have aperture to see quite a bit on Jupiter, and some nice showing of Saturn, but before you expect that: - your mirror has to be acclimatized, too much temp difference and you will have thermals, - your telescope has to be collimated well, especially for planetary viewing, - you have to pump up the mag a bit, I feel 100x and upwards. I use 114x on a 71mm refractor, you can certainly do 120x on your telescope and tracking will not be a problem. - you have to wait until the planets are somewhat higher in the sky, below 20 degrees is a no-go (will be a mush due to dispersion and seeing). The trouble with this hobby is that the planets and the Moon are are at their lowest and the nights are at their shortest when it is comfortable to sit outside and one is usually on vacation. August, September and October should be pretty good for Jupiter.

Bingo, it is removing the lower caps on a Delite or Delos that pulls the whole thing up.

A follow up on this. I used stabilizers for the first time just now (I do not know why I postponed that experiment) and they performed admirably. Have to write to Michael to include that as a standard. Collimation of the secondary was much better with altitude change and the laser spot did not leave the center of the triangle as it I moved it throughout. In the meantime, I managed to bust one of the collimation screws and had to replace it (with a bigger M6 screw (can't find a M5 here to save life), basically the old wood insert had to be drilled out as the collimation screw got completely stuck). Very important: you have to push all the trusses down completely when assembling. If you do not do that you will end up creating collimation problems with the primary and run out of thread or tighten too much. Stating position for all three screws behind has to be 12mm from the mirror cell. Paracorr is now always in unless I have to observe very low objects. Attached is a picture of the stabilizers. Given that Moonlite has discontinued its non-motorized focures, it will be interested to see what will be fitted to Alkaids in the future.

If you own neither...start with a 100 mm refractor. Sweet spot. 140mm is a lot to handle. You need to see it in person in order to decide if you want to lug it and it needs a completely different class of mount.

Haha, not really, misus would positively kill me. My friend has a C11 and a 140mm frac and whenever we go together he brings only one of the two. He splits between visual and photo. While my Alkaid 12 complements the frac nicely...there are ocassions where I would prefer C11 on a tracking mount and I hate EQ mounts for visual.

I went through most of the thread, but admittedly not all of it...has anyone used the mount with C11, especially on uni 18/28?

In my Borg 71, which is f/5.6 (only 400mm focal length) I use 24mm (Pan) for filtered look at some of the biggest objects, but normally it is 13mm, 5mm and 3.5mm Naglers (or a 3mm Delos).

Celestron powertanks are the bees knees. Pricey but yet to fail in freezing conditions and have useful LED lights too. Going on and on and LiFePo avoids some of the lead pitfalls...