Rusted

Interesting. I shall investigate further. I wonder if this"low power" requirement is due to a lack of light [in H-a] in smaller instruments?

Best advice so far. If an astronomy club or society is within reach you will gain access to instruments to make direct comparisons. There is also the likelihood of lots of expert advice and even the chance of a telescope to borrow. Most societies/clubs have a website these days. With a contact person listed to approach. Hopefully they will be warmly approachable and not try to drown you in their "expertise."

I once left my Solar Continuum green filter in place on the camera nose for H-a after changing over from white light. The screen was completely black! A polariser/polarizer is not the same at all. I have one permanently on my Lacerta 2" wedge.

Are you suggesting a green filter for H-alpha? Red and green make black. The Solar Continuum removes all light from an H-alpha telescope.

I tried both my 2" Lacerta and Lunt 1.25" wedges [both with associated safety filters] but couldn't see any surface detail by eye. Both wedges showed double images to my naked eye. The Lacerta 2" includes a rotatable polarizing filter. So supplied a usefully dimmer image to taste. Still no spot on the tiny little sun! I planned to try a Baader solar foil filter after lunch but now it has clouded over. The forecast was clear this afternoon. <sniff> Perhaps it will clear again. I have no telescopes set up in the observatory after taking them down for safety reasons during the recent storm. I need to hire a crane to swap domes. So have put off setting anything up for imaging for the moment. Picture shows the 4.3m still waiting to replace the 3m dome on the enlarged observatory. December snow.

Well worth the effort!

A great set of images Steve!

Nice image. That spot is a monster!

Beautifully captured departure!

Despite my 60-odd years of visual observing I had to learn to see in H-alpha. I could see the sun's disk but it took real effort and concentration to tease out the detail. It was like trying to see details in the red coals in the bed of a fire. At first I really thought I had completely wasted my money. 150mm f/8 PST mod. I could never use the original PST because of its rusty ITF filter. So I stripped the PST almost straight away and fitted a Maier replacement ITF for my mod.

It's amazing how much detail you pull from your images of the sun. when it barely clears the horizon and is often obscured by clouds both visible and invisible. Thank you for sharing your skills and artistry.

Thank you Nigella. 😊 As good as your word and a whole basketful of goodies to study. That final, elongated AR is mind blowing! Just the sort of stuff to get the dark side astronomers excited enough to try their luck at capturing our own star. Thanks and best regards, Chris

Great! Thanks for that kind offer. 😊

Great work Nigella! It is fascinating to see your AS!3.14 settings. In complete contrast to my own. I believe strongly in following the experts where I can. You have done the heavy lifting to reach your high level of widely recognised competence. So I'd be very interested to see your ImPPG settings. If you should have a sample of a typical ImPPG screen capture lying about somewhere. 😊 Thanks Chris

You make perfectly valid points. I was generalising. The PST + 90 sounds like a good plan. PSTs are notoriously variable in image quality. You may be lucky and get a really good one. Then begins the downward spiral into poverty and lunacy. As H-alpha solar gets under your skin. You discover that PSTs can be taken apart and added to much larger telescopes!! You can probably see where this is going.

A patent requires a unique factor to become registered as an invention or breakthrough. 30 years ago I developed a linkage geometry. Which gave "girder" forks [for a mountain bike] 180mm/7" travel. A chat with a patents office advisor, on the phone, quickly ended any hope of my "cashing in" on my "invention."

Does household contents insurance cover the accidental dropping of an OTA? I remember in my youth making a so-called f3.8 "lenseless" Schmidt. Field stop at twice the focal length. Curved 35mm film holder at focus. I went on to parabolise the 8.5" mirror as a rich field for visual. Massive but lightweight, stressed skin, altazimuth fork mount and aluminium truss tube. It was displayed at the city reference library. I eventually sold it via the Exchange&Mart. An early form of eBay but printed on news paper.

Sorry. I don't drink and [pretend to] image.

Thought I'd do some solar imaging on a very rare sunny day. First I had to wait for my own chimney to move aside. 😧 Then the wireless keyboard stopped working. 😟 Then the monochrome imaging software screens went all pink and turquoise! 😭 Then the shadows of my own house roof intervened. 😱 Then dome shutter slides were sticking. 😫 Then I packed up and went back indoors to warm up. 😨 Some things were just never meant to be. 😄

Define "poor" in the context of your imaging skills Steve. Just look at that monstrous filament!

An even better set! Thanks for sharing.

Great set Nigella! It was well worth the wait.

Congratulations. Your observing chair is ingenious and very well thought out. I think I would have gone for a pair of quality mirrors [optical flats] for a compact, "look down" altaz set-up. Despite suffering from image reversal and inversion. Dewing of the mirrors would probably require heaters.

At that price I'd get one of my servants to look through them for me.

Slightly off topic, but: I have often considered using a camera and monitor to help to help me collimate. Though the Cheshire does not readily lend itself to fitting a camera at the peephole. DIY adapter? Walking back and forth between adjustments. Climbing and descending ladders every time. Is more a trial of memory, agility and balance than some innate skill at collimation. Seeing the changes I make "live" on a screen, from the objective end, would be a huge advantage.