Sunshine

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

For me it's my trusty pier mounted Vixen GP which has proved itself time and again by carrying everything solidly, even my long and heavy 6" F10 Edmund's Scientific refractor without issue.

Below with the Genesis SDF.

Whoa! you put a 6” refractor on your Vixen pictured here? this is a bit of a relief as there surely is a larger refractor in my near future, something along the lines of a 120-125, I guess I shouldn’t be concerned about the GP handling it as long as it is balanced properly.

This may be a daft question but when using a refractor and a cool wedge is there any issues which could arise considering the amount of heat the scope is subjected to? heating of the lens cell or focuser for example. As I understand the wedge dissipates the heat but there must be a substantial increase in heat within the optical tube, is it advised to keep observing to a limited time and allow the scope to cool? or am I being paranoid.

27 minutes ago, tombardier said:

I bought an Altair wedge just before winter, and it's only been used once!  That's primarily because of the weather actually, which is the same reason I haven't used my Daystar Quark for 3 months or more, up until the Sunday just gone!  I have an ES 102mm AR102 which I bought specifically for h-alpha viewing, but I found the CA a bit off-putting when using white-light. 

I bought a 102mm f/11 Altair Starwave just yesterday.  It's been slightly shortened, and it only cost £120!  Was thinking I might try some side-by-side white light and h-alpha, as it's mounted on an AZ-EQ6 GT.  I was hoping it might be shortened enough to binoview without the corrector, but not quite

I would like to try white light some more.  I think the CA was bad enough on the AR102 (f/6.66) that it smooshed any granulation detail.  Not sure.  This f/11 scope will reduce the CA significantly, I'm hoping, and get me in closer! 

Of course, I could try a Baader film on the 10" newtonian pictured too!

I'm going to try the OIII filter, in lieu of a continuum filter.

Beat of luck! I’m sure the Starwave at f11 will make a positive impact on the CA, curious about your result with it once you have a peek.

14 minutes ago, jetstream said:

I have a reasonably good working Quark that I might dig out now that it has warmed up and the sun is getting more active. I still think the PST is a nice unit to have around and might pick one up.

By all means- you have the optics to maximize the views.

Yes I feel my scope would make a good pairing with a baader wedge in good seeing.

2 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Btw, it takes the very best images to equal what the eye sees on solar. Solar views through nice optics is stunningly good. Gonna go check GONG out now myself to see whats happening. Crystal clear skies atm.

Good to know, I have had H-alpha scopes in the past but on both occasions stupidly sold them on impulse to fund other items, I cannot emphasize the word "stupidly" enough. In the coming year or two I will have another but

for now I really would really like to try out a good wedge with my scope.

15 hours ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I really love white light solar observations too. Nothing wrong with that. Granulation is fantastic to observe as well as the changes in spot development over day's. Images taken with just an 80mm ed refractor and Lunt wedge with zwo ASI 178mm camera. What's not to like. 

These images have stirred me, I am searching for a wedge!

37 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Buy one IMHO.

Used one for years and are considered the best out there. Your 100mm Triplet will give extremely good views. I've found that going up to 120mm makes observing much more seeing sensitive. My 90mm is much more flexible in regards to this. That being said, when conditions allow, the extra aperture really makes a difference.

You might be shocked at the views with your scope and a Baader Cool Wedge.

You're making it very difficult for me to keep my wallet closed! I am on the lookout for one.

thanks for the info.

Nice report! looks like you've had some cold temps but managed to catch many faint fuzzies while keeping the dob safe from Covid! 👍

In your years of gathering mounts which many times come and go depending on needs, is there one mount no matter how old it is, that has always been there and done it’s job? for me it would be my Vixen GP. Even though I’ve only had it a few years it just seems so well built, finished, and is so smooth and stable that I can never see myself letting it go, it will always have a place in my home.

18 minutes ago, Stu said:

I regularly post awful smartphone shots (in the smartphone section) and no one has openly sniggered at them yet 🤣🤣.

There is nothing wrong with your aw......uhhm smartphone shots, Stu 🤣

It’s great!

Nothing lavish, a TV 1.25 does the trick it seems.

16 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Had to handle the mount head on my knees so that i dont fumble on the ice and drop it. Who knew ice would be slippery 😲.

Its a very unwieldy shape with no clear place to hold it in your hands. Not too bad with the tripod at minimum height though as its quite low.

Makes me feel like such a wimp, a little frost on my scope has me running inside, tail between legs.

55 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

My VX8 has new legs! The AZ-EQ6 works much better than i expected from a first try, i had 0.7'' RMS total towards low declinations on the first try without much fiddling with settings or anything else. If anything the guidescope attachment to the tube is the weak link now where as it did not matter before.

Never set up a mount on thick ice before, but seems like it worked well. Just had to carve dents for the tripod legs to stop it from moving around on the ice 😅.

Very frosty and humid, but the dew shield did its job again. Some frost had creeped all the way down to the tube, but none had made it onto the secondary. Also had to prop up my power supply up as much as possible with some other equipment as it gave some low temperature warnings when directly on the ice.

Literally astrophotography on ice! 

5 minutes ago, nephilim said:

I prefer splitting the hairs 500 times.....Just to make sure 🙂

I have changed the original post so as not to sound abrasive which is never my intention.

A wonderfully detailed image! as for the core being blown out, where? meaning that tiny point in the centre where even if it weren't so bright there would be no detail visible in such a small point anyway. I'm not an imager and no offense intended but i do think that imagers tend to split hairs, it is a beautiful image!

This is a great writeup for anyone thinking about a solar wedge, I will seriously consider a Baader wedge.

Having used a Vixen GP for years now with slow motion controls I would certainly miss them if you took them away. Having said that, I also have a new (to me) alt az push to mount which is great but at higher powers I am 

really missing slow motion controls.

This is neat, I guess they haven't updated their 'where is Webb" site yet as it still shows individual dots fo each mirror.

Welcome to SGL!

This is beautiful!

Love this image!

Lovely images!

Venus is not easy, great shots!

Welcome to SGL!