Kitsunegari

Solar projection is rather amazing, when i was 13 years old ; i randomly stumbled upon this with my very first telescope; a meade 4500 reflector scope. It actually completely changed my life, as this was the first time i had ever used a telescope; i literally saw a burning asteroid , comet, or other space debris with fumes and ejecta coming off while it transited the sun on the paper. I remember it like it was yesterday. Literally had vapor trails ejecting out of it like an aircraft engine would, except it was not an airplane. Never saw anything like it ever again since. (but wish i would!)

great prom!

I did not assume you were using the SCT. For that you are going to need a front mounted energy rejection filter. Astrofilm is great, but not for what i am doing. Check out the baader planetarium Tri-color sct solar scope. Thats what you need, or something similar. You could in theory make this yourself with an old surplus laser mirrors however if you manage to find one that is 205mm.. They do exist and this is exactly what a dielectric filter is. That 90mm refractor you have will outperform the SCT scope with calcium 393nm wavelength however, SCT telescopes are not diffraction limited below 400nm and Despite the large aperture, that cheap meade 390 90mm scope will always produce a better image at 393nm than any standard $2000.00 SCT by meade or celestron. SCT requires corrective optics and a $2000 filter.

If you place any filter about 100mm away from your solar focal point, at a tilt all the hot stuff goes into the metal baffle of your telescope. The telescope itself functions as a heatsink for the reflections. Typically you would use a IR/UV cut filter, but any filter works depending what you are trying to image. I usually just mount them to the last baffle in my telescope and give it a slight push to tilt it.

Here is a link to the full frame video on flickr , it is 150mb. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51022577596_e47c788509_o.gif

Explore scientific firstlight 127mm x 1200m + meade 2x barlow + custom infrared blocking double convex with 100mm focal length (my own design) , the filter set is a Skybender with 3 custom calcium filters (my own invention). Camera is a basler aca1920-155um. Here is some information about the Apollo Skybender; https://solarchatforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=24440 thanks for looking

I was very pleased to have captured this. Like a whale breaching the surface of an ocean this sunspot floated to the surface for a short breath of life ; awake for just 20 minutes- it decided to fall back asleep under the ocean of boiling ionized calcium plasma- Thanks for looking!

You cannot avoid taxes. The governments do not give a "F" about our lives or hobbies; they just want their cut so they can continue eatting $500.00 plates of potatoes and beef.. The taxes excuse is pretty lame if that is what is going to stop you from enjoying your life with a new toy that you want. Here in the united states, we cannot even order products from baader planetarium.com, i think thats more unfair than taxes.

and one more of "false calcium filter" timelapse showing a flare. I And my real calcium filter showing a flare. You get what you pay for

The difference is in the "Flocculus", or the white marshmellow stuff you are able to image.. The first image shows my real calcium filter with less than 1 angstrom of bandwidth, compared to my false calcium filter with more 10 angstroms of bandwidth. Both are useful for different studies. Real calcium filter image False calcium filter image The real money shot is on a full disc however. True calcium filter will show the flocculs across every inch of the sun, no matter where you point it at. The baader planetarium filter is a terrible for what it costs, so put it on your "do not buy" list.

Just attach a focal reducer on your camera if the seeing is not up to your standards.. The images look fine. Your scope was probably just too hot from being in the house and moving it out to the cold.

That quark clearly is going to be way better than your lunt 80. The newton rings are pretty-much standard on all equipment nowadays, so dont fret over it. Just get a camera tilt adapter. Or downgrade to a CCD based sensor. place that quark in a a 127mm objective telescope and you will forget lunt even existed on day one. Save up for a baader planetarium 200mm D-erf filter paired with a 200mm coma free SCT and again, the tiny 80mm objective will be a relic from the past. based on this one picture, you are one of the chosen few that was provided an outstanding quark. CHEERS!

I agree, the second one in the most recent post is the most uniform. The issue is not with processing, it could realistically just be your focuser. Try using extension tubes and not the actual focus wheel on the scope. This will sort out any slack in the focuser if there is any, could be that simple.

if this is an SF-50 etalon, I think you may need to focus attention to how it is mounted. It appears that it may not be "Squared" to the objective , (It should be flush mounted) There is some extreme banding which should not be there. This brand of etalons are supposed to be completely uniform across the entire field. If you are certain it is mounted properly, you may want to examine the blocking filter for oxidation and degradation. The images are great, but there is something up with the tune. of this setup, It would be in your great interest to investigate this issue, because you have a legit scientific instrument which cost a pretty penny, It is not functioning as it should be. (sorry to sound negative, just trying to make sure you get the best bang out of this amazing piece of equipment)

There are some filters on ebay sold by A_p_o_l_l_o which produce a "pseudo-double stack" at the eyepiece(1.5 angstrom). Apollo stripped ~9 angstroms off the usual mass produced blocking filter offered by lunt and coronado, Which is a huge amount of bandwidth. the difference between a second etalon is the additional stripping of 12 more angstroms before the eyepiece (depending on if you are shipped a good etalon). Apollo's filter is very close to getting a true double stack(thus the pseudo-prefexi). He developed that filter with Andover optical corp and its made in the USA. Long story short, if you want to be part of his experiment; find him on ebay.

Solar data viewer (nso.edu)

That first picture is wicked, the second one is a little off with contrast but still good. Alot of people have adopted the "stretch the histogram" . I never could get a usable image with that method.

Little fluffy clouds. (terrible imaging conditions due to prescription forest burning) and this nasty one i actually like the pink, this is what George Washington's horse riding coat looked like. (YES, GEORGE WASHINGTON WORE A PINK COAT!!!)

One more very important piece of information to always cling onto. Your ability to take pictures does not reflect the performance of the scope. Your visual ability has nothing to do with the performance of the scope. Like all things in life, there is always going to be someone with better skills and that is very important to understand in the world of solar observation. Your eyes cannot tell how bad an h-alpha scope performs, like a camera will immediately let you know there is something wrong. . (some people may have some unique ability like colorblindness, but they do not have monochrome camera vision with sensitivity control. So do not believe for one second they are better than a camera, regardless of how well known they are in a forum.) There is an exception or two, where the scope will visually appear damaged. Yes a skilled human can describe a poor performing scope and a great performing scope, absolutely. But the camera will say "its garbage" every time. With all these arguments, Now look at these pictures from a quark. Absolutely phenomenal in my opinion, and is this an example of a government grade etalon slipping into the hands of an amateur? Absolutely. Realistically, you cannot just take word of mouth on what to buy , and you absolutely cannot buy a solarscope based on pictures taken by somebody else. The variance in all the telescopes is very exceptional. The variance of personal ability and persistence is also exceptional. Some people just do not try.... Home / Daystar Filters Public Images / DayStar Owner Images / Joe Sullivan | Daystar Filters Imaging Gallery Now compare this one quark, with the much bigger lunt scope images. You will see something that is going to alter your opinion. Gallery Of The Amazing Solar Anomalies | Lunt Solar Systems there is only one company that supersedes the rest, always held the highest regard . They are downright Nobel, and that company is "solar scopes from isle of man". Once again, it is very important to understand that the pictures taken by users may only reflect that they are skilled at image processing. However at the same time, you can clearly see that after image processing; this quark has proven itself to be equal to a lunt LS152. (10,000$) Get an idea of what to expect by the pictures taken by people with skill, then apply it to your opinion on what you want to see. High magnification, or low magnification. Portability seems like something you want.

Maybe we can get some more people to offer some intellectual arguments about this, because realistically im going to also be buying a quark. The lunt scopes are certainly well worth every penny, and i have literally owned 7 of them looking for a "unicorn" both lunt and coronado are known for slipping out some government equipment to the public and the last 20 years really have provoked the fact that 10% of people that buy an h-alpha etalon get one that is superior to all others in the world. Then comes the quark, same deal. You are going to get a school boys toy, or a government graded scientific instrument. It literally is a lottery. Against all observation reports, and recommendations to others. I would say get the quark, because when it comes down to it in the end you can always resell it for 90% of its value. Especially now that solar acitivity is coming back rapidly. The quark is absolutely capable of a full disk image. So now ask yourself, do you want to be stuck with nothing but full disk and moderate magnfication? Or do you want to actually see a sunspot, and its penumbral filaments. MY arguement is this. All lunt telescopes are great, but at entry level they are prone to quality issues like coronado. All daystar products are great, but at entry level they are prone to quality issues like lunt and coronado. So when we consider this, the following statement must be relied on . "entry level solar telescopes are toys, and the quality of the product is designed to satisfy a hobby" There is a pattern of, "you get what you pay for" If you look at the LS80, this is where you get an advanced quality . It is pure instrument at this level, and the price reflects that. Still the same piece of glass, still the same coatings, still the same metal bits. But exponential in price because of performance. Being realistic here. It has nothing to do with the 80mm objective, or the crayford focuser, or the aluminum tube. Not even the pressure tuner. The price is reflective of that very nice etalon inside of it. The quark is moderate level, while still considered entry. The quark is certainly capable of ruining your opinions about lunt and coronado entry level products. So with my opinion well stated, i tip my cap to you sir. You have a helluva a decision to make before those x-flares start coming our way I hope some others on here can help you decide.

If i was you, i would not bother at all with either of the 50mm or 60mm lunt scopes. Get a daystar quark and attach it on your 115mm triplet. Daystar seems to have sorted out most of the problems with the quark, and it really is not much more expensive. Just save you pennies for an extra month. (im about to sell my 50mm etalon because it just is not fun anymore for me after switching up to 127mm.) Just my two cents. Nothing beats high magnfication visual h-alpha, and with a full disk system you are just gonna be begging for more power almost immediately. Side note, since you live in canada - the lunt filters freezing on you is gonna be an issue. (thermal drift) The daystar filter accounts for that cold stuff.

How did the chameleon get damaged, did The cable bend too much at the input?

Colder than a witches teet. and a bad optical test that shows just how awful some products are at 393nm..

Absolutely stuff being ejected, similar to a geiser spraying at yellowstone national park in the united states. Sunpots are very similar to beach fronts, with "sandbars" or "dunes" that rise and fall with the tide.

Only the 2x powermate is a telecentric. You are very lucky to not have problems, Most of us that own these do. Help with 2.5x Powermate - SolarChat! (solarchatforum.com)