Sunshine

Oh my, these are wonderful and those two last ones with the giant flare separating into space WOW, its been cloudy here and i have been itching for some solar views. If I would have seen that huge flare I would have been ecstatic.

Those are beautiful! I need a bigger H-alpha scope 😂

By that you mean? incorporating skysafari to be used with starsense? 

Looks to me to be a tripod from an 8SE, I believe.

5 hours ago, garryblueboy said:

This little Beauty added to the Stable and loving the looks and build quality the Glass is sooooo nice 

Love the image of the objective. Like a cyborg’s eyes or something.

You guessed it, it has been cloudy and rainy for a week and us amateur’s can be driven to madness in such times. Enough to make me arrange my kids in a line for a family portrait! my wife is out shopping but if she saw me drag my scopes into the kitchen for a picture she would insist I have my head examined lol. This is the triple threat I have wanted for a while, a solar scope, good refractor, and a small dob…who am i kidding, i wanted a Lunt 80, a 12” obsession, and a TOA130 but there’s still time. A meagre collection compared to some here but I’m happy as a pig in the mud 🤣 this is happiness for a long while, I would love to see everyone’s family portraits.

Amazing! that chunk of sun went off and didn't fall back! would that be a CME?

Hello, I haven't had the chance to reach Lunt yet But I am wondering if anyone would know why I cannot reach focus when I have it converted for night mode. This is not an issue when using it for solar but when the etalon is removed and the focuser reinstalled for night using my TV diagonal I don't have enough draw tube, regardless of which eyepiece I use, am I missing something? may others with the same scope can help. When I watch the short Lunt tutorial on how to convert, it makes no mention of extenders or any other hardware needed, it just says remove etalon and reinstall focuser then use your night diagonal, weird.

thanks!

This is unfortunate, I hope you get the issue resolved with Baader and be imaging with it soon enough, I hear they are the best wedges money can buy, they certainly look the part.

Thank you! wow, binos i must try but haven’t been able to meet my friend due to conflicting schedules but i am itching to try. 

Your solar images are so...BIG!! amazing work.

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Especially considering it must have been a one-off engineering-only prototype since the shortest production Panoptic was the 15mm before it was discontinued. 😉

I can't imagine what the collector's value would be.  Probably not as high as any Nagler Type 3 would fetch, though. 😁

Now that you mention, I believe it was a 14 but it could have been 15, id have to check my list history on buy and sell, now im curious. 
 

update: you see! i am an idiot, it was a 24mm panoptic and i listed it for $165 CAD (100 pounds?) 

3 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

What did you do to make it smoother if you don't mind. 

H!, i found it to be very creaky when moved on either axis, it would make squeaky creaky sounds as though everything was loose and rubbed together. Closer investigation revealed it to be the main plastic pivot hubs attached to the OTA on either side, the plastic rubs the metal ota when moved. The solution was to lay the OTA flat, remove the mirror cell by removing the 6-8 small screws which hold it to the OTA then reach inside and hold the nuts that secure tue hubs to the OTA while unscrewing the screws on the hubs. When the plastic hubs come off i applied clear silicone to all the surfaces which make contact with the ota, the perimeter of the hub and the tops of the honeycomb like grid pattern of plastic within the hub. When the hubs are reinstalled there will be a thin layer of rubber silicone tp prevent squeaking, the telescope felt different and silent after that. In the image below, I highlighted the hub where i applied silicone around the perimeter (with hub removed) so that there is an anti squeak barrier between the OTA and hub. Once the hub is reinstalled there will be a bit of excess silicone squeeze out but of you run your finger around the edge it will finish nicely and invisible.

I made a stupid move a few years back, bought a mint used 14mm panoptic and didn’t really care for it in my dob back then so I sold it. That’s not the stupid part, the stupid part was I totally forgot what i paid for it and didn’t bother checking its value new and ended up selling for half of what other used ones were listed for. It’s no wonder I had several interested buyers within minutes. 

Doesn’t matter how small or insignificant you may think it is, if you had fun and enjoyed yourself then that’s what it’s all about and we love to hear about it so don’t be shy.

Welcome to SGL!

Pretty cool i like that!

Can't open the video.

On 17/04/2023 at 02:42, Rusted said:

Congratulations!

The R&P focuser is fine on these.
Made by Feather Touch/Skylight Instruments?
The whole telescope oozes quality.
Clever, modular design provides multiple options.
Though the overall weight is quite a shock.
Lunt must be making quite a few.
Judging by the serial numbers.

Not sure who makes the focuser but it is buttery smooth and finely adjustable according to ones preferences. You are correct when it comes to the weight, it is heavy! for a relatively small scope, so much so that it is quite surprising, actually. It can double as a weapon should a thug ever break into my home lol, solid aluminum. 

50 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

It was a F12 Classical Cassegrain  On a EQ mount. But cheers

I read stella lyra and immediately thought of the dobs, great image.

Impressive you captured detail, and with a manual dob, I think that’s fantastic.

Nice! I wish I was home to see that.

Those images are off the hook for a phone shot, from in a hot tub you say? closest I’ll get to that is sitting in my bathtub looking at your shots on my phone, if that doesn’t sound awful weird.

What a show our star has been putting on lately, never a dull moment. Maybe I too should start sketching what I see.

A big welcome to SGL! Chrissy