Nigella Bryant

Hi all, would increasing the exposure on camera give a chance of imaging Mercury just b4 transit begins. As if taking prom image or would it be still invisible until first contact?

Welcome and enjoy the forum.

Just cleaned my lunt, hopefully it'll be clear. I did clean the front erf of the double stack, not sure if I'll bother double stacking for the transit. Took of the front lens of the single stack and cleaned that, left the etalons alone. Checked the Solarquest Mount and bought new rechargeable batteries if I need to go mobile. Added an electronic focus and two inch focuser. Now it's probably going to be cloudy cus I'm all set to go, lol.

Weather forecast better for the south west of England now but time will tell.

Welcome, so it's you that's caused the bad weather by buying equipment. Enjoy the forum, great peps here who'll help with any questions you have. Best site ever.

Thanks David, wise words. Note taken.

My gut feeling is to leave well alone.

Hi all, as the title says, "can you clean etalon, inside of lunt 60mm, also dust on objective and dust on erf of double stack filter. Or is it best left alone.

Thanks Helen, yeah for £20 it's worth a go and as you say, I can turn it off or even down. Toasty observing here I go, lol.

I'd seen them for £20 on amazon, wondered if anyone had used them. At 61 I feel the cold so thought it might help during the winter months.

Hi all, with the winter near, does anyone use the USB rechargeable body warmers? Supposed to keep you warm for up to 6 to 8hrs.

To be honest I've never taken any notice of numbers but just looked at the image on screen and adjusted the sliders until I get what I think is a good image to take.

Looks like it's going to be unsettled and cloudy where I'm going to be but I'm still hoping, lol. Such is the British weather.

http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/ The above link has plenty of information on solar observing.

Yeah, I always use my mono asi120mm and also a 0.5 reducer to give me full disk. I use autostakker3 to stack @ 30% the image is then transfered to Imppg which is specially designed for solar imaging processing. All are freeware. I use photoshop to merge and colour. I'm new to this to and only got my scope this summer. Transit of mercury is a must on the 11th November weather permitting of course. Watch your focus too, gain, gamma, and exposure, it will be easier using sharpcap for capture with the zwo asi120mm. You need to capture one for the surface details and then another with increased brightness for prominences and merge the two after processing.

You seem to have some easterly view so during the winter months the moon will be high at some point. Mar's next year will be higher in the autumn so you should catch that too. Orion rises in the east with a few bright nebula such as the orion nebula so that should be good too. There are lots to see and as the earth rotates and constalations move across the sky , you'll always see something. As has been said there's not many perfect back gardens so enjoy your new hobby.

Hi Harry, try and get hold of a mono cmos camera like the zwo asi120mm. It's the cheapest way to go. I don't know much about your scope but attached is an image taken with my lunt 60mm single stack so I think there's a steep learning curve too with your scope so keep at it.

Yep, I'll be in Devon, taking my lunt 60mm double stack and Solarquest Mount with me, hopefully we'll get some breaks in the cloud's.

Awwwwww, bless it's little.

You can add eq to the Az Gti with software update, counterweight bar and counterweight. I'd only use a telephoto lens and dslr or up to 70mm refractor for astrophotography though if that's planned for the future. Capable mount.

Thanks jambouk, that may be the issues, hasn't happened since but I did adjust balance.

Thanks, appreciate all the help. Hopefully be ready for when the sun wakes up and mercury transit if we get some clear sky on the 11th.

Thanks Ibbo

Added two other surface detail, comments appreciated.

Some raw png stacks for you peps to play around with, full disk and using 3x barlow, thanks. Ps, made a flat from the prom image, don't know if that would work? Anyway I did manage a combination of surface and prom action, I know it's not brilliant and needs some TLC but at least I'm learning new skills by trial and error, lol.