Nigella Bryant

Hi all, just did a saddle plate upgrade on my Solarquest Mount today. I'd bought a double stack for my 60mm lunt and wasn't happy with the original saddle plate because it does make quite a bit of difference in weight. This is an easy after market fix from ADM and is the same as with the AZ Gti mount which the Solarquest Mount is based, details below. 1. First I took off the plastic cover on the saddle plate to reveal the four screws that attach the original plate. 2. Next unscrew and remove the original plate, the four original screws are reused to attach the part of the new back plate that the new saddle plate attaches to. 3. Attach the new backplate using the original screws. 4. Attach the new saddle plate to the back plate using the two supplied hex nuts. Simples.

Brilliant Macavity, impressed

Brilliant Vin, many thanks for this write up. Sounds an interesting project,especially considering the cost of a 100mm lunt being astronomical, lol. I also wonder if you can double stack?

Omg, at £950 that astronomical, lol.

All indications is that Betelgeuses decline in magnitude has bottomed out and is beginning to brighten again. At least we got to observe a deep decline in our life time, well at least in my life time. So pleased I witnessed this and our old friend will continue to shine in our autumn and winter skies.

Ho Roger, at the beginning of the session I usually completely remove the pressure tuner and then replace until it show details, at sea level I usually have to tune mine fairly full in. Hope that helps.

That's the way I use mine.

That's my thinking at the moment. What's not to like, lol.

Brilliant Vin, how did you manage that?

No, not thinking of giving up the solar, rather expanding on that exclusively. That's the dilemma, lol. Thanks peps, interesting about getting a small refractor, I'd have to invest in one with adding cak to my solar observing anyway. The refractor with cak and Lunt would run side by side on my Neq6 that I've got for the 12inch.

Hi all, just wanted to bounce of peps here. I've been thinking about this for a while. I really love solar imaging and observing. I've a lunt 60mm double stack and Solarquest mount on an eq6 tripod. Brilliant piece of kit and so easy to use and set up quickly. I've also got a 12inch f4 Newtonian by orion optics that I've modified for imaging. Whilst I use the solar scope probably every month, the 12inch gets little use, mainly because it's observing late at night and at 61 I find myself quite tired by the evening's. I'm not really passionate about spending hours taking images of deep sky objects that quite frankly are imaged probably better than I can do. My other passion is imaging the planets in the past, but that to isn't easy. So I'm thinking of selling off all my night time gear and going exclusively for solar imaging and observations. With this in mind I could also include CaK observations too with the money pouched by selling my night time kit. Problem is, will I regret this in þhe long term, but also in the long term I'll also be getting older too, lol. I do find solar observing dynamic and fulfilling and also with the new cycle 25 beginning it can only get better. Your thought's would be appreciated. I know there are swings and roundabouts, for and against selling and restricting to one subject.

Yeah, lovely idea, I'd love to upgrade my lunt 60mm double stack next year but the cost us astronomical, lol. I'd also lose about 50% on my current iteration. The 60mm double stack new is £5000. Mines several years old 2011 pressure tuned but still fantastic views and imaging with it. I'd want at least an 80mm double stack and at best the 100mm double stack but I'm looking at maga cost, lol. One can dream, lol

How old is that information, I can't find anything recent to suggest the above, only that once around 100,000 yrs ago it may have expanded and swallowed a solar mass star as a binary system because of the current fast rotation period.

Yep, stars are dynamic things. Gravity and nuclear fusion plays it's part in an ever changing battle to keep equalibrium. Hence bulging in the case of betelgeuse because of it's size and ageing process of the red giant's. That's my take on it anyway, I'm no physicist, lol.

Above: Betelgeuse is lopsided, according to this newly-released image from the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al

Always have mine on matt paper.

Here's my first printed framed picture of last year's partial lunar eclipse. Pleased the way it's come out and looks brilliant on the wall.

I'm just glad I've witnessed a deep low in my life time at 61, so that's why it's exciting to me not because it's going to go bag. I've never noticed it before. So it's interesting in that alone. For new people to astronomy it must also be fascinating to learn that stars are dynamic changing heavily bodies, hence, I'm a solar observer, imager too. Even the lows of our ordinary star the sun has us speculating when minimum will end and if it's a deep minium as cycle 24 has been.

It is an exceptional low. Still interesting even if it didn't go pop, to witness an historical low in our life time.

Official magnitude is now +1.66. Apparently Feb 21st is the date to watch as it should begin to brighten by then. If not something very peculiar is going on. See space weather for this update.

Does seem a good match, asked around b4 I took the plunge. Seems a good replacement for the 120mm usb2. Resolution wise it's much better compared to the 120mm.

Seems to have Dave.

Hi, just getting used to the new Zwo Asi 178mm to use with my Lunt 60mm DS. 40% stack of 500 frames. A little bit different than using the Zwo Asi 120mm but first light of the camera is promising. Wasn't sure if I was imaging a full disk at the time as Sharpcap showed only part disk so not just plug and play as the 120mm. I'll have to play around with the zoom function too.

It's a 17inch wide screen, I think I need to zoom out then. I'd bought the 178 because, a) it's usb3 and b) I wouldn't have to use the 0.5 reducer. So I guess alls well after all. I'll just have to learn the zooming out feature.

OK, this is odd, I've just done a play back of each file and they are full disk. I'd assumed that what I was seeing on the laptop was what was being imaged and not quite full disk. I'm using sharpcap 3.2. I've never adjusted the view on sharpcap. Is there a way to zoom out. At least I now know I am taking full disk image's of the solar disk just not seeing that on the output in sharpcap.