Rusted

3 hours ago, Ags said:

Aaaah, but was it the same sun? 😂

Objection! Argumentative!

14 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

Nice one! Weird isn't it? Most of us dislike artificial objects interfering with our views of the sky, yet I do like a plane transit 😄, I also saw one yesterday. Maybe it was the same one?

I think it is very unlikely with your registered locations being so far apart. The sun is very small on the sky.

1 hour ago, scotty1 said:

You must of felt very proud and excited when you finished building such a grand observatory. 

Is there going to be another observatory to replace the dismantled one? 

Thanks, but no new observatory is likely now. I'll explain why. Because it may help to guide other builder's decisions. I have years of hands-on experience at this.

My own back garden is no longer fit for solar imaging due to excessive tree growth. Only a narrow angle is clear around the south and the house lies on that path. A hot, tiled roof ruins the seeing! The only cool roof is white. This limits the choice of covering materials and is not usually considered very pretty. White corrugated cement sheeting and white glazed tiles are sometimes used by architects. The rest of us are unlikely to get away with it!

Shelter, from the sun, for the imager themselves is vital IMO. Sitting for hours exposed to the hot sun is very, very unpleasant and even dangerous. [Cancer & heatstroke.] A dome can provide vital shade but sets tight physical limits on size and wall height. I could hide behind my massive mounting, pier and instrumentation. This required I sit at an imaging desk with my large monitor[s] fixed to the huge pier and facing north. Some shifting about of my chair, to avoid the direct sunshine, was still necessary at certain times of day and year.

The size of my 6" refractor, with H-alpha filtering extensions, sets a minimum size for any permanent shelter. I am no longer able to lift such a heavy and unwieldy instrument onto a mounting unaided. Which means permanent mounting of the instrumentation. Even an E-W parking position set tight limits on dome size. Once the scopes are pointing high, the large swept radius must lie within the dome's supporting structure. [DIY dome ribs and observation slit ribs usually extend inwards.] A smooth interior is fine. If the structure is stiff enough. Which requires thicker and much heavier GRP. Or a perhaps a GRP-foam-GRP sandwich. I would never choose any other colour but titanium white for an observatory. Green painted plywood and self-coloured GRP absorb considerable heat. The heat is built up inside the dome. Then escapes through the observation slit and ruins the seeing.

Raising the solar telescope above the sun-warmed ground helps improve solar seeing conditions in the heat of the day. Grass is fairly, thermally neutral. Tarmac, dark stone, metals and painted surfaces anything but! I spend hours wandering around with remote sensing thermometers and IR cameras checking different surfaces. White is usually good. Depending on its absorption and emissivity across the entire solar spectrum.  Draping white tarpaulins or shades externally can be helpful but are usually wind intolerant and look very untidy.

A smaller, roll off [roof?] housing for the telescope and separate shelter for the imager would work. Having a continuous view of the telescope is vital IMO. To avoid cable tangles and obstructions. The camera end of the telescope can swing very low when the sun is high. Causing unforeseen obstructions on the imaging desk and furniture. Even though my dome was 10' [3m] in diameter and the walls my nose height it set severe limits on freedom of movement. I would often be tracking the sun continuously from just after sunrise to local sunset.

The cost of commercial domes rises rapidly with size. Making DIY the only way forwards for many of us. Which means the risk of failure is very high indeed. Unless one has lots of DIY experience. Long term weatherproofing is very difficult for most amateurs! Tar felt roofing is fairly foolproof but absorbs enormous amounts of heat. It is also very heavy!  A Peter Drew, barrel shaped 'dome' in aluminium would be my first choice. If I had my long life all over again.

Thanks. For some reason I wasn't notified of your response until today.

Living in fear of a demand for removal [by my very tolerant wife] guided my selection of materials and construction methods. My two storey domed building is half hidden by the house but still visible from certain angles. There are no near neighbours with clear oversight. The height was required because of constant tree and hedge growth. I was careful to stay within the very lenient planning rules for garden structures.

It was quite magical to do my imaging up there for hours on end. My wife preferred my being nearby. Rather than many miles from home on yet another cycle ride. The front garden is rather too small and limited to allow a reasonable sized [domed] observatory. Solar imaging would be reduced to only a few hours in winter. A white dome would also be highly visible to my neighbours and the distant road.

Light coloured, round objects stand out like a sore thumb in the mostly green countryside. While a white caravan can go completely unnoticed. I have erected quite small, TV dishes in the front garden and could easily see them from over 200 meters away. I just didn't want to draw attention to my hobbies. Nor cause an accident. When some motorist was "rubber necking" at my distant observatory. Which I soon painted green. After an exploratory coat of white primer. The primer was a serious mistake and caused the high quality timber protection paint to peel rapidly.

I have had a serious "man cold" for the last week or more. So deconstruction has been on hold. I have now discovered I have a heart problem. So must be very careful with heavy work. Normally I would have worked for hours. Like a very fit person in my 20s. Just as I have done all my life.

Dunno. All I can see is worms.  ☺️
 

3 hours ago, Ibbo! said:

Yes you can 🤣

Nice! Amazing proms!

Is a dog's breakfast visible in H-alpha? 🤔

Another superb set! 

What exquisitely subtle and detailed images Steve!

Despite the constant limitations, presented by weather and seeing conditions. You are the master of full disk, white light, solar imaging. Those who wish to improve their own imaging. Need look no further than your work. As their ultimate goal and shining example of what is possible. Your ability to constantly repeat this incredibly high standard. Is proof enough of your skill, dedication and determination. ☺️

Congratulations on your new Lunt and an excellent first step.
Now keep doing it! You want to capture some surface details next. This needs shorter exposures to avoid over exposing the surface.

To discover more details about any solar feature you should record the time in UT [UT or Universal Time] and date.
Then you can compare your image or observation with other images posted online.
Some imagers kindly post an image of the earth at the correct scale.
You can then use the size of the earth as your guide.

I found this very useful post on another forum when I searched for your question:
I am not sure whether such direct linking is acceptable here.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/855163-how-to-determine-the-height-of-a-prominence/#entry12356376

Nicely done again Luke.

Those clouds nearly spoilt it for the chickens!

Thanks.
I keep it firmly in mind that there is nobody to stick a plaster on any injuries.
Probably nobody would find me for weeks out here in the sticks.
It gives one a proper sense of fragility and vulnerability.

Thanks. The dismantling of the outer building is going very well.
The large Torx screws have all responded to a key or the rechargeable driver.
 

28 minutes ago, Mr H in Yorkshire said:

Everything has its time! Interesting to see the construction and deconstruction.

Thanks.

My memory isn't what it probably never was. The uprights of the outer building are paired 2x6s. [50x150]
Screwed firmly together and beveled on the outer faces. To match the angle of the plywood cladding.
I used a DeWalt table saw for this. Great fun with such long and heavy pieces. Working outdoors.
A handheld, circular saw might have been better but I never liked the great weight of these.

Had the plywood dome been waterproof I might never have bothered with the bigger dome.
I used expensive cartridges of marine sealer but this didn't keep the water out of the countless joints.
A shame because the dome was quite attractive and unusual.
On of Peter Drew's, half cylinder "domes" would have been an easier thing to seal.

Access was far too difficult and dangerous, at that height, to have clad the dome in GRP in situ.
In retrospect I could have had the dome lifted down with a crane to work from ground level.
Unfortunately access for any crane was simply too difficult on my long [200m] and narrow drive.
Just getting a modest tipper truck to deliver gravel proved to be quite a trial.
The local, lorry mounted, crane hire uses an even bigger truck. It could never have reached me.

I thought it might be interesting to see the construction l used. As I dismantle my 14 sided, enlarged, 4.3m/14' observatory building.
Which I literally built around my original 10'/3m octagon. The larger building was offset by 1.3meters to the west. The 4.3m dome is now sold. [£5!]
Once the plywood cladding is removed the construction details of the skeleton can be clearly seen.
4x4 [10cmx10cm] full height, timber for uprights. Then the "sides" are cross-braced in 2x4 and 2x6. Using screws throughout.
I always use Torx screws because things can then be dismantled later. Without destroying the timber. [Recycling!]
A DeWalt sliding miter saw was ideal for obtaining close fitting joints. The plywood cladding acts as a stressed skin.
Providing triangulation without using diagonal timber braces provided enough fixing screws of adequate size are used.
Gluing in addition to screws is a safer option but I prefer to be able to take things apart in case they don't work out as intended. 
Diagonal bracing plus stressed skin is the belt and braces approach. My building never flinched during storms.
Its rounded form probably helped. A rectangular or square building has no such natural stability. Excuse the mess! 

Thanks for sharing your excellent set of images.

It was just like being there. ☺️

Forgive my doubts but isn't your "filtering" just colouring white light images to personal taste? There is no narrow band filtration involved. As most of us would define H-alpha, Calcium, or any other widely accepted solar imaging frequency/wavelength.

Your coloured filters don't apply monochromatism. Because they simply don't have that capability. Their pass band is far too wide. Even when stacked. One cannot stand inside a church window and say the pretty red view of the sun outside is "Infra" or "H-alpha" anything. Nor does the royal purple view have anything to do with Calcium in the solar spectrum. Except by accident in matching the visual impression at the eyepiece of a real, solar telescope.  

Your "results" could more easily be achieved with free imaging software. Just as many solar imagers apply false colours to their B&W monochromatic images to show their personal preferences. Usually to match their own visual impression of the vibrant, original colour. As seen at the eyepiece of their hideously expensive, solar telescope.

Monochromatic light is tightly filtered to a very narrow bandwidth by multiple, precision, optical components. The narrower the bandwidth the greater the expense.

Finally, there is the serious risk of others less knowledgeable: Copycats trying to view the sun with "cheap" coloured filters. Leading to severe eye damage or even permanent blindness. Your "cheap" coloured filters offer ZERO PROTECTION from the sun's harmful rays. Not even when squinting through them at the "naked eye" sun overhead. Adding your "cheap" filters to any optical instrument to look at the sun is almost guaranteed to cause instant and permanent blindness. Or severe and permanent eye damage.

10 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

Yes, that will teach us to not scoff at Astrology.     🙃

You say astrology and we say meteorology.

Let's call the whole thing off!

Great set Nigella!

Well worth the wait.  ☺️

When I were a lad: I was the victim of a severe dose of Dixon's Prinz 10x50 binoculararis.
No amount of prism adjustment ever resulted in anything but chronic and untreatable strabismus.

My Zeiss Jenoptem 10x50s went out of collimation within days of purchase.
They were making me feel sick and giving me headaches.
The dealer wasn't interested. Claimed they'd been dropped.
They hadn't. They'd been treated like a paper bag of eggs.
He claimed he had no access to a repair professional.
There was nothing to lose except the expense of my misaligned binoculars.

I found that there were wedge shaped rings around the objectives.
With the binos firmly held I adjusted these rings to bring the images into alignment.
The images had been diagonally skewed. Then I re-tightened the locking rings.
They have remained perfectly aligned for the last 40 years.

Try wearing surgical gloves when handling to avoid fingerprints on the lenses.
I used screw adjusting engineering dividers on the locking ring's tiny notches.
With GREAT CARE to avoid scratching.
The binos must be firmly held during optical alignment adjustment.
You can't do this in mid air! I used a card. Quickly slid back and forth to cover each lens.
Do not remove the locking rings or the lenses will drop right out!
This is usually considered a FAIL. 

I have [had] about fifteen pairs of binos. Mostly bought from charity shops and flea markets.
Every single one of them was MISALIGNED to some extent! I was going to use them for finders.
Optical quality, brightness and field of view are extremely variable between examples.
I prefer roof prisms now.

Some nice imagery.

I think your various images, across the spectrum, would benefit from text labeling.
This would provide far more information for later analysis and direct comparison.
Keeping the text off the disk itself is probably best. To avoid hiding anything interesting.
I tried hovering the cursor over your images but no further information was forthcoming.
Naming your images before saving them sometimes allows specific clues to be gained that way.
A record of UT may have great importance if you should capture something unique.
Always possible where the sun is concerned. Like your plane transit as a more informal example.
A time stamp of the transit would allow investigators to check the plane's position and condition if needed.
Plane spotters would love to have more information. Specific to their own interests in identification.

Excellent images!

It is amazing how all the activity and complex surface texture is crammed into the NW hemisphere.

Some nice detail but it wouldn't hurt to brighten your images with gamma and contrast in a free image handling software..

Cropping around the solar disk would also improve your presentation. Finally, I find that resizing to about 6-700 pixels works nicely on the forum.

Ultimately image presentation it is a matter of personal taste. I had a quick play with your solar disk and probably lost some detail.

It's not exactly your off-the-shelf item either. You'll probably have to find a dealer and ask for an original, replacement spare part. In aluminium!

Failing that: Screwed sleeves or thread [size] adapters are widely used. Large male thread on exterior. Smaller female thread inside.

Do an online search for M14 screwed sleeve. Assuming your part is actually M14. Presently unknown.
You may have to modify an M14 part by drilling it out to size. Or having somebody do that for you in a lathe.
Model engineer? Local tech college or school with a metal machine shop? The latter should have a thread pitch checking tool too.
If you can find an M14 bolt or M14 threaded part you can hold your mashed up fitting against the thread to confirm the pitch is the same.

Brass to brass, or aluminium to aluminium threads may want some lubrication.
Sticking is called galling. Almost like local welding. Use tiny amounts of grease. NOT oil.
You don't want anything runny migrating into the lens elements.

I'd be checking the lock-ring[s] fit back on without the objective lens in place.
Before attempting to insert the lens.

ASK YOURSELF WHY YOU ARE RISKING THE PRECIOUS LENS!
It would have to be filthy to have any effect on the view. Use a hand bulb blower first.
Cleaning the visible surfaces with a lens cloth and approved cleaning fluid.
Is far safer than a clumsy amateur trying to dismantle the lens from its cell.

Removing the objective glass elements from the metal cell is fraught with serious risk!
Most amateurs try to tip the lens[es] into and out of the cell. Which is just asking for trouble!
The glass lenses will always want to tip and jam fast in its close fitting cell!

The proper way to do it is to remove the metal objective cell from the telescope's main tube first.
You then remove the lens locking rings[s] while working safely flat on the table. Not in mid air!

Let's assume that you have removed the cell from the telescope main tube.
You have already unscrewed the locking ring[s] and placed them safely aside.

Now you pad a suitably sized, upright, drinking glass rim with a soft cloth. Clean hanky?
Choose a drinking glass diameter which will pass easily though the lens cell.

You then slowly lower the metal objective cell over the padded drinking glass.
So that the objective remains supported on the padded drinking glass rim.
Once clear, the cell is lowered to rest safely on the table around the bass of the glass.

You then deal with the fragile and naked objective lens.
Which, in a common doublet, usually consists of a flint and crown pair.
One positive, biconvex lens and one negative concave lens.
The back of the flint may be flat or slightly curved.

The convex lens usually faces outwards. Though not always.
The biconvex lens may even have two different curves!
Where the curves between the lenses match they will usually have tiny, thin spacers.
Some objective lens pairs may have a spacer ring between them.

Make a note of which way around the lens sits in its cell.
Check carefully for any pencil marks on the edges.
Which, if present, will show their rotation, relative to each other.
Or may be arrowed to point towards the sky.

Your lens is now accessible for cleaning.
I'd much prefer surgical gloves to anything else.
This avoids fingerprinting the glass with skin oils.
While usually providing a safe grip.

Refitting the clean objective lens is done in reverse order.
The drinking glass is standing inside the objective cell on the table.
The lens is carefully placed on the rim of padded glass.

The metal cell is then lifted very gently and straight upwards without tilting.
Until the objective lenses sit safely within the metal cell.

If the lens tips and sticks then very carefully lift the cell again.
Squareness between the lens and cell is vital as they meet.

Let's assume you have the lens safely in its cell but still unsecured by its ring[s].
Place the cell down on the table and remove the drinking glass to avoid accidents.
You can now proceed to fit the locking ring[s.]
With the cell and its lens safely resting flat on the table.

You may not be able to remove the cell from the main tube.
Check for locking screws around the edge of the cell.
Unlikely, as most cells are screwed to the main tube with a fine thread.
Try grippy rubber gloves to unscrew a tight cell.

Don't use tools! Other than [rubber] strap wrenches.
These are commonly used for removing vehicle oil filters by friction.
You may need two. Facing opposite ways. One on the cell. The other on the main tube.

Or, get a strong helper to grip the main tube while wearing grippy rubber gloves.
While you try to unscrew the objective cell.
Using both, gloved hands where there is enough room.
Many cells will be very tight. Once loosened unscrew the cell very carefully.

The risk of damage to the objective lens is very much higher if the metal cell can't be removed!
In amateur hands the objective lenses tend to tip slightly as they enter the close-fitting cell.
Which can cause a scallop of glass to be broken away from the lens surface!
This usually occurs on the softer [rear] flint lens. Tears will soon follow such a disaster!
Painting the scallop with black paint is considered safer than leaving it visible.
A bare scallop might distort the light passing through the lens.

A lens in its cell is expected to rattle VERY SLIGHTLY.
This avoids squeezing the lens in very cold conditions.
Which might distort the glass lenses by crushing.
Glass has a much lower coefficient of expansion than metal.

There are YT videos on telescope lens removal and cleaning but I haven't watched them!

I use pointed, screw adjusting, dividers for undoing locking threads.
Though professional tools are available. These resemble beam compasses.