Craney

If your scope looks like this ...... then the focus control is the numbered black component to the left of the diagonally shaped blocking filter. If you undo the small sticky-out locking screw then you should be able to rotate the black flange with the numbers. This will focus the scope. Those numbers are a nice touch as you can 'dial-in' a value for a set eyepiece or if you are imaging.

I will try to answer before somebody with greater learning steps in. The knurled wheel in your pictures brings the components within the etalon 'on-band' so you can see the solar features at Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths (with a bandwidth of 1Angstrom ~ 0.7Angstrom or whatever the scope is rated at.) This is the so called 'tuning' of the scope. All the focus is down at the other end. Have you got a piccie of that end ? You might need an extension tube etc to make all eyepiece designs come to focus. Not sure about the rotation thing as I have never used a Lunt scope before. Hopefully that might help you along a bit. These look nice scopes. PST rival ?? Sean

One of our own ?? Goes to show just what fantastic things can be done with the shed in the garden... and a bit of curiosity.

Same phenomena again....... this was on the morning of the 2nd June. Same exposure profile.... ( 30secs between each shot )... 'normal' satellite trail to end sequence. Look a bit more spread out this time.

Just looks at those secondary vanes !!! What type of diffraction pattern will those give ??

Hello everybody, Caught this last night on a wide-field time-lapse movie looking over towards Cygnus and the East at about 2:50am. In amongst the multitude of satellite passes I got this little cluster of 'trails'. Is it a small localised burst of meteors or a succession of flares from a satellite train ?? I have converted the 20 consecutive frames of interest into a GIF. (Hope it works). Each frame was a 10 sec exposure, 30 secs apart. Also included is a star trail track of the same frames. Never seen it before on the time lapses I have completed. Any thoughts ?? Sean.

Looks like a Tele-Vue !! ....

Which could be even more embarrassing if the meteor outburst timetabled for May31st is one of the greatest of the modern era !! Maybe you bought the "Sky at Night : Julian Edition" ??

Is that a Lego Tyre for fine focus ???

Moon is just past "New" phase as well. Fingers crossed.

There is a current post talking about quite a big M class flare emanating from a region just to the "South-West" of this within the last hour or so.

For those with 8/8ths Oktas...... Lots to observe in Ha. Bits flying off at 2 o'clock position. This is from Solar data view select (nso.edu) Click on the site name for the observatory ( Cerro Tololo in this case) and it downloads a movie of the frames.

This one is going to test my resolve...... 533MM or a new sofa......??

It's an amazing nebula and that's an amazing picture of it. Good work. ( Is that the Sea-snake /Hag fish / Electric Eel nebula below ?? )

This is my effort from near Pateley Bridge. (5am 'ish)

Yes, I did the same here in wildest North Yorkshire. Out to Dales at 4am, but as I was driving I had the feeling the horizon was just too bright to get the 4 planets in one exposure. It's also difficult to frame when you can only see Venus. I'm gonna stretch my photo beyond sensible restraint to see if anything pops out !!. Must be a great spectacle from an East Facing beach on the Equator.

This is an excellent summary. Thankyou. Coloured doubles are a worthy challenge for imagers with long focal length rigs and non-narrow band cameras. ( Always good to have targets for those Moon illuminated nights).

Now here's a question....... Would it be possible to see the shift in the apparent positions of the sunspots due to the gravitational presence of that moon (Phobos) .... ie.... curving of the space-time continuum etc.....?? or would the effect be just too small ? (I'm aware that Eddington (?) did it with the nearby stars, the Sun and a Solar eclipse many years ago in South Africa...) Which then leads me on to asking, could you see any light deflection with a sunspot and the nearby limb of the Moon (our Moon) during a Partial eclipse ??

Wow, that is something to behold. Excellent work all round. 161 separate movie captures (!!!!). Your poor computer must be as hot as the Solar surface.

Isn't boot polish meant to be a good thread lubricant ?? .... or did I just day-dream that ??

Is it the case that if you have an All-Sky-Camera, then every exciting Fireball, bolide, asteroid impact is always photographed within 10 degrees of the horizon !!!! Seems to be the case..... or is there some observational effect that makes them more common at low angles. Has anybody got an image that shows this epic phenomena streaking right over the zenith with flames and smoke spurting out ?? It seems the meteor/meteorite class of objects is pro-actively trying to avoid publicity.

I agree, would be happy with both. Super detail on SCT frame.

William Optics OTA ... as a guess

Got myself a new Dewshield to match the OTA courtesy of @fwm891 All looking very smart..... apart from the cables. Snag-tastic !!

Fiction becoming fact ?? Do astronomers dream of electric cuts ?