Nigella Bryant

Yeah, worth the wait.

Hi all, after several days of cloud and more cloud I finally had an impromptu solar session as the clouds parted for an hour. Managed to get a full disk image and tune and clock the hydrogen alpha telescope. Instrument used was a Lunt 60mm double stack and Zwo Asi 178mm. False colour added in PS CS2. Some interesting features and some nice arched proms. Looks like there is a small plage area coming around the eastern horizon, hopefully it will grow and we'll get back to some more activity.

My 24 star count was said to be 95% better than most people. Good skies here but not perfect dark sky reserve type.

Cleared up at 23hr and counted 24 stars. Is good for 62yr old eye's, lol.

Was supposed to be clear here but you guessed, it's cloudy.

I found out by accident that dithering works, lol.

There's already a post about this.

Try dithering too. It averages out the banding.

That's the problem, there is need for more people to get better results. It's like in solar observation, one person counting a sunspot group as apposed to hundreds counting. We need a good average to quantify results.

Every little helps, I guess it's cumulative so if lot's of people do it from your location there will be an average of the limiting magnitude and thereby an estimate of the light pollution for your area. Hence the more the merrier. Just need some clear skies, that's the challenge.

Yeah from tonight, 6th to 24th February supposed to be clear here. https://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/nature-and-landscapes/dark-skies/star-count-2021/

So sorry to hear this. It's heartbreaking. Please pass on my deepest regrets and hopefully a quick recovery of the item's. I know how that feels having had an observatory broken into many years ago and everything taken. They even graffitied the inside gloating.

Yeah, make's you think about our place in the solar system/universe. I know the earth is bigger than Mercury. Venus transiting the sun would be a better comparison but still, "Wow" as you say.

Hi Edward, as have been said, the cheapest way is to make a solar filter from baader solar film. Initially this will give you what is called white light observations. For visual it must be nd5, for imaging you can buy nd3.8. you must not look through the imaging solar film and is only intended for imaging to make shorter exposures. To that you can add a couple of filters. 1. The solar continuum filter - this enhances the granulation and falculie. 2. The baader k-line filter - this enhances the falculie, spots and granulation even more. Refractors are more convenient and cheap achromatic scope's will suffice. With refractors you can use what is known as an hershal wedge. These give the best view using the said filters. I've added pics using the baader k line filter but this filter is best for imaging. I suggest that you first start with the baader solar film and the solar continuum filter for your scope's. https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/solar-observation/astrosolar-viewers-and-film.html

Hi all, long story short. I'd bought my double stack unit just two weeks before the transit of Mercury and having very little experience of the Lunt double stack I didn't know back then about getting tuning right and being on band or how to obtain even illumination and clocking the double stack. Back in time to 11th November 2019. Anyway, on this rainy February day and being bored I decided to clean all my zwo camera's optics and also visit the transit of Mercury data with the post processing technique's that I have learnt, tweaked and discovered over the last 14 months since then. Some surprising results, lol. Not sure if one is of the Mercury transit with a transit of a seagull, pigeon or bird of pray.

Interesting post, thanks. I too am looking to motorise my rotation of my older type pulsar dome this spring. I've got an old motor from a mobility scooter, a reverse forward and back turn on off box/switch and AC to DC power all working together at the moment. I'm building a rail and going to use a t-belt pulley and teeth belt T10 to drive the dome. I like the sound of adding a timer relay to the design to continually give small movements when at the telescope.

Thanks, I know I can see even to read the manuals, lol.

Nice you got some captures. What Lunt Ca-K filter are you using b600, b1200 or larger? Have you tried ImPPG after stacking. It's a free software specific for solar image's. Thanks for sharing.

It has to be 2, lol.

Forgot also this book "15 Million Degree's" arrived today. Hopefully get some sun, lol.

Also had to get some step rings so I can get a decent full disk with the 0.5reducer with the baader K line filter.

My bad, quoted wrong, I'm a numpty, lol 80A as apposed to a 2.4A. never intended to mislead anyone. I blame my age, thought I'd read something about baader K line filter being 10 something. Again, my bad. Thank goodness for more knowledgeable people than me. I don't know my angstroms from my nanometres.

A step up ring arrived today. Nothing special but I needed to have a 0.5 reducer for full disk with the 80ed and Zwo ASI camera and the baader Ca-K filter. Had to cut a mm down the ring as I couldn't get hold of the right size. It works a treat, now need to give it first light to see if the spacings are right.

I've got a chainsaw?

Now you tell me, lol