Rusted

Sorry to hear that Charl. 🙁 Get well soon! 👩‍⚕️ I'm struggling with variable cloud. How about this for fine detail? Inverted and augmented in imppg. Is it real, or not?

Small looped prom at 4 o'clock on the limb looks almost like a knot. Tiny image cropped from 640x480 then enlarged to 500 pixels in PhotoFiltre7.

I've cycled at down to -15C and that was before I discovered suitable clothing. It was agony on the hands and feet! Years later I discovered MTB winter boots and GripGrab two fingered mitts. Both will keep you cosy. You must have a windproof shell [not waterproof] to make any sense of layering. I have several windproof jackets all bought from charity shops. A bit dated but excellent wind stops. The Danes discard a load of cycling stuff and there are a lots of keen cyclists. I only use the jackets around specific temperature ranges to avoid overheating.

I have deliberately sat at the telescope at -23-25C showing on two digital thermometers. My collection of old down jackets can be layered if need be. Here I am well wrapped up. An utterly pointless exercise but I wanted to see if it was possible. The eyepieces fogged up in seconds when I brought my face anywhere near them. I was rotating two of them through my inner pockets and breathing downwards. Then there was the extension cable problem. It lay in a huge, rock hard, spiral "spring" across the yard for over a week. Memory foam has nothing on PVC cable which usually lives in a coil in the shed. We live at the bottom of a slope which causes a "thermal decline."

Making great progress Vin. Particularly considering how little sun there has been to practice on. You can easily rotate your images in free, image handling software if orientation bothers you. Help yourself by finding a non-slippery, black, shade cloth and wearing a black jacket, fleece, T-shirt or jumper. Avoid anything light which can reflect back from your screen. Even black will appear light grey in direct sunlight. A cardboard packaging, shade box can help but needs to be deep enough to provide enough shade. You can easily make holes in the sides for the cables in a cardboard box. Or tape something together from a bigger box. Ideally this needs a small table [or stand] and a chair so you can relax without dropping "stuff." Don't be too self-critical of your results. Every subjective failure is valuable lesson learned. Above all: It's supposed to be fun! Not a competitive sport! Well, not yet!

Tripod stepladders are superb. Lightweight, safe and stable with broad, comfortable steps. The huge span at the base makes a mockery of ordinary ladders with horizontal stabilization bars.

You had more luck with the paint than I did! My sage green top coat is already flaking off the white undercoat and looks a sight! Only complete rural isolation allows me to hide the shame.

Baader do a 1.125 GPC [Glass Path Corrector] for those who cannot quite manage the f/10 requirement. It acts as a weak Barlow to stretch the focal length less than the usual 2x Barlow. It also adds to the cost and complexity of the PST modification. I owe all my H-alpha/PST mods to expert knowledge from Peter and Ken.

When I were a lad.. I used the valley between the twin roofs of our Georgian slum as an "observatory." 4" f/15 refractor in a cardboard [carpet] tube with a [home made] simple, objective lens made of ophthalmic glass. Quite well corrected too, surprisingly enough. Which is more than you can say for me.

Absolutely amazing! You are a bit of a genius to have constructed that lot!

"Warning!!! Never use the Solar wedge without the supplied narrowband filter and the polarizing filter. Otherwise irreparable eye damage can result!!! TS." I routinely use a Baader SC in my 2" Lacerta prism along with a single rotatable polarising filter and the fixed ND3. The polarising filter is really valuable for adjusting a pure white image to a comfortable level. Note that you only need a single polariser to dim against the polarising effect of the prism. I have a rotatable collar, but with a 1.25" TS you'd need to move the polariser to each new eyepiece. Then rotate the eyepiece for comfortable brightness before locking the thumb screws of the receptacle. Not such a chore in bright daylight compared with fiddling with filters in the dark. Do we know if the TS "narrowband" filter is green? Any owners present?

John, If you read the TS blurb they do state quite clearly that the narrowband filter must not be removed. It sounds as if they are relying on the unnamed narrowband filter to further reduce the risk. Genuine Baader SC filters are very pricey even in 1.25". This would seriously raise the retail price of the TS solar prism if provided as standard. Suggesting, perhaps, that this may not be a Baader SC filter but something similar. This matters to TS solar prism buyers. At least those with a chromatic phobia. So greater clarity is highly desirable. IMO.

I should have a lie down first. You'll be exhausted after clearing all that snow off the tube!

You can use the SAFELY FILTERED Sun [or the Moon] to align in SharpCap. The Sun would need an approved solar filter [Baader Foil?] covering the front of the telescope. I used the sun because I wanted to do the alignment in daylight. I have a very heavy mounting and use a length of scaffolding pole to turn my telescope mounting horizontally. The idea is to align the camera's axis against a vertical crosshair first. A must do! You move the camera's image up and down, parallel to the vertical line on the screen. You do this by rotating the camera in the eyepiece holder as you rock the telescope tube gently up and down. Then you can watch as the sun or moon drift up or down, or left and right, on the screen against the crosshairs. Any drifting has to be reduced by moving the entire mounting horizontally. Or by raising or lowering the Polar Axis of the mounting according to the rules provided in the video. I used SharpCap to enlarge [Zoom] the filtered sun's image to fill my laptop screen to make it easier to see any drifting. If you write down or print out the rules for changes to the mounting's orientation it will be easier than trying to remember them. It all sounds horribly complicated but is actually very easy if you just follow the rules in the video below.

I use a Lecerta 2" wedge with my 180mm [7"] f/12 and often have it tracking the sun for many hours at a time. [iStar R35 achromat.] The hot, light cone should fall just inside the baffles and pass straight though the deliberately oversized focuser drawtube. The baffles at the "hot end" of the light cone and focuser should be shielded by the earlier baffles even when the sun is slightly off axis. Only grazing incidence over a short arc should occur in the earlier baffles and block access to the later baffles. I ought to check this myself with the sun off axis. Though I know the baffles are thin aluminium, painted matt black, because I made them. My 150mm, 6" f/8 H-alpha scope suffers from refocused light reflected off the internal Baader D-ERF. This is a very hot conical beam focused on and refocused sharply by the objective itself. Again this instrument points at the sun all day long on most sunny days. The post D-ERF beam is still hot near focus. Which is a bit of a worry for the etalon group and later filters. I rely on more experienced solar observers having used even larger apertures with an internal Baader D-ERF and standard PST etalon/filtration.

Please don't post direct links to Forbes. Forbes will release no content unless I close my ad blockers and allow unspecified, possibly lifetime, trackers of my online behaviour and that of any contact I might have had, might have or might ever have. Information over which I have absolutely no control over their behaviour. Or that of any services, organisations or any foreign governments onto whom they might sell my information for profit.

Question: Is there anything empty, tubular and removable from the system? I've looked at the images online but can't see whether anything is easily removable. Can you take off the complete helical focuser and attach the diagonal directly to something else on the rear of the tuner? T2 thread size? You can get nice compression band, eyepiece receptacles to fit on that. Male and female via gender changing threaded rings. Some have focusing via bodily rotation. I have one on both my H-a and Vixen 90. Or you can use push-pull focusing on the camera nosepiece and grip it in the EP compression band. I've done all this at a push.

Vin, I just tried focusing my 120MC and my 174MM in the same telescope. Vixen 90/11, 1000mm focal length. Both cameras focus at exactly the same point of focuser travel. It seems that ZWO thought it through a made the relative sensor position the same for different cameras. Which seems obvious for those swapping between cameras not to have to search for focus each time. The sensor positions look very different in the bodies but are NOT changed relative to the 1.25" nosepiece. Adding a 2x WO Barlow NOSE to the nosepiece of the 120 moved focus outwards by 25mm. I was careful to seat the camera and Barlow right into the focuser to stop at the camera face. Next I removed the camera and Barlow NOSE and popped a 26mm Meade 4000 Plossl into the focuser. This needed 22mm of outward travel to reach focus on the same target. Which suggests you need to move your camera 22mm inwards from your eyepiece focal point too. Or, add a 2x Barlow NOSE to the camera nosepiece to achieve a very similar focus position to the eyepiece. +/- a couple of millimetres. I like the William Optics 2x Barlow NOSE because it is affordable and doubles as a GPC for binoviewers. Moreover, it has a 1.25" filter thread to fit on the camera nosepiece. Hope this helps?

You can use an internal Baader D-ERF. I used a 90mm half way down the tube on my 150/8. This has a similar reduction effect to an external, full aperture filter. BUT! It has some very serious downsides: The internal filter reflects and focuses a red hot, burning beam just outside the objective! Which is a very serious safety issue if there are other people or children about. I actually set fire to a forgotten, cardboard aperture stop ring I had fitted inside the dewshield. It warped between imaging sessions and drooped into the hot beam! FIRE! Internal filtration doesn't protect the whole instrument from heat like an external, full aperture filter. The layout may be thermally inferior due to internal tube currents. The red, focused beam coming from the empty focuser is still hot! Somewhere safe and perfectly stable has to be found for the internal D-ERF to sit. I used an original baffle for support inside my old CR150/8. Which meant removing the objective cell from the main tube for access. Then moving all the original baffles around to suit. Some baffles are welded or glued into the tube so wont move easily. Besides, you'll ruin any flocking or matt paint inside the tube. Doing any of this will instantly void any guarantee on a new instrument. I didn't care due to the age and "untidy" condition of my [very] secondhand refractor. I'd strongly recommend you dig deeper for a full aperture, external D-ERF filter.

My own impression of the Solar Continuum green filter is that it removes glare. It is much more comfortable to view with than dealing with a bright, white solar disk. I have always found the TS accessories to be of good quality and nicely finished. Their 1.25" star diagonal is rather posh. No doubt their solar prism will be rather posh too.

Hi Nigella, It seems I did not make myself clear enough. Absolutely no criticism was intended. I used a ASI120MC [colour] camera myself until very recently. The ZWO colour camera replaced a Neximage5 colour camera. My own feeling on the subject is that a colour camera will offer far more fun and many more instant rewards for a newcomer to solar imaging. The picture of the sun on the monitor is far more interesting in white light [or H-alpha] when fed by a colour camera. The colour camera also be used for lots of other things. Like watching wildlife, birds or for security. The human eye is far more comfortable with colour images and video. It still has a strong survival factor. The mono camera may be the weapon of choice for more advanced imagers but often has a much higher expenditure in accessories and far more demanding processing. It also has a steeper learning curve for the apprentice imager. They badly need all the self-encouragement they can get. Without facing increasingly steep technical hurdles and expense. Vin is a self-confessed newcomer to imaging. He already has an excellent camera. With no need to rush off for some half-promised improvement from Mono. This is only my personal opinion but the "beginner" doesn't really know the "whys" of "upgrading." Further expenditure is often unnecessary while getting a feel for the hobby and one's place in it. Almost every amateur has a collection of expensive "stuff" which rarely ever gets used. The same holds true for solar prisms versus far more affordable foil. The beginner thinks they MUST HAVE a prism because it is "more serious." The differences are subtle and not worth the expenditure for most casual solar observers and imagers. The view of the sun through a telescope fitted with solar foil is truly amazing to those who have never seen the sun that way before. The same holds true on the monitoring screen for imaging. I keep going back to cycling examples because it has so many parallels. Accessory obsessive behaviour is absolutely rife! Newcomers to cycling spend a fortune on accessories when all they really need is to cycle more. The same holds true for astronomy. Become proficient and experienced first. Then you will gain the most from [supposed] upgrades. The race to own the most toys is already won. By those who can easily afford the most toys! Never buy anything just to impress others! It doesn't make you a better astronomer. Nor a better cyclist.

Vin, Glad we're making progress. You don't need a ZWO extender. Nor a mini mono camera. Use what you have now and enjoy it. All the astro dealers have T2 x 20mm extenders. FLO has amazingly quick and helpful service in my own experience. Despite living on the Continent I now shop at FLO. They charge less for international postage than Germany. Which is only "next door" to Denmark but daylight robbers on postage. But you say you live in Gravely Blighted anyway. So burn that plastic and get imaging! Or words to that effect. Baader T2 Extension Tube | First Light Optics

Which solar prism? I bought the 2" Lacerta which as an odd 67° Brewster angled eyepiece. This works fine in winter. Or in the early mornings and evenings. But, it means you are looking upwards in summer when the sun is high. Looking upwards demands a higher tripod, or pier, unless you are going to sit on the ground. Most solar prisms are 90 degree. You may find this more comfortable at all times of the year. Some prisms have an exposed heat sink which gets very hot. This could burn curious, little fingers. Never leave a solar telescope unattended! While other prisms throw a hot beam of light out of the bottom. More rarely these days, but once commonplace. You don't want a hot beam on a telescope anywhere near children. It places them at the perfect height to look upwards into the blinding beam! Hopefully you will keep your prism for a very long time. They are rather too expensive to buy several, just to try. So choose your prism carefully.

Hi again Vin, Love the colourful description of your efforts! We seem to have established your have "orange peel." So your telescope is working as intended. They say when all else fails: Google it: The Lunt 50PT website and others talk about a visual B400 and an imaging B600 diagonal for the 50PT. The B400 is described as perfectly adequate for your size of telescope without any caveats about failing to produce an image on a camera. First Question: Which diagonal do you have? The websites all show lots of pretty pictures of the Sun in H-alpha. Presumably these were taken through a 50PT or it would be "a bit naughty." Next question: Have you tried your ASI178 with any other telescope? Does it produce a sharp image? I also found you had an echo in another SGL forum and in "another place" [CN] Third question: How did the 20mm spacer go? Are we having three times as much fun yet? BTW: You can safely ignore the CN comment about needing a mono camera.