Zakalwe

2 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I'm not using the TEC for the Quark, certainly not yet, and when/if I do I would buy an ERF.  However, to address your point the TEC is completely fine for white light solar and a Herschel Wedge.  Done so many times with Yuri's - the manufacturers - blessing.  He says, and I agree (FWIW) that the objective is just like a piece of glass on the table.  It is only when the rays come to focus when all the fireworks start.  Yuri says he has folks using his TEC200s perfectly fine for solar.

I'd trust the word of the guy who made the scope.

Daystar specifically do not recommend using an oil spaced refractor without a ERF, but this may be ass-covering?  http://www.daystarfilters.com/inout_article_base/index.php?page=view/article/4/UVIR-Cut-Filter-application-for-Refractors

I suppose there's also a chance that the heat energy rejected by the ERF could come to focus inside the objective. That'd be through a freak of spacing where the internal ERF is located in precisely the wrong spot. All that energy has to go somewhere...sometimes the focal point is inside the OTA where it can heat the air causing currents. Mostly I would guess that the rejected energy comes to focus outside the OTA somewhere in front of the objective.

The TED is an oil-spaced scope, isn't it? If so, then I'd be very wary of using that for solar work unless it had a front ERF. I'm sure that Daystar used to specifically advise against using an oil-dpaced refractor or a Petzval design unless fitted with a front mounted ERF.

A 12060mm Baader D-ERF is another £900 plus the cost of a mounting cell.

16 minutes ago, Solar B said:

The regular UV/IRs imho are not adequate as an ERF , the 35nm Baaders are actually 

mini D-ERFs so are more than adequate right up to 150mm in my experience.

However if your not used to Solar HA then I wouldn't recommend a Quark as your first 

foray as they can be very hard work given the mags your dealing with , EP selection 

is critical and they often do not make for relaxing views , thus many give up 

upon them.

I'd opt for a regular air spaced scope to begin with and see how you get on with that first.

Brian 

 

 

 

All of the above.

The UV/IR filters pass a lot of heat through them, whereas the H-a filter blocks the vast majority of it.

Quarks aren't the easiest to start with, though once you get used to them (and you get a good one) then they are capable of producing an outstanding image. However, if you have zero H-a experience then I would think that a Quark could make for a very frustrating time.  You'll need good seeing to get the best out of them too.

The other thing to consider s what do you want to image? Full discs are a complete PITA with a Quark as you are into multi-pane mosaics.

You will also have to "train" your vision system. I have a pet theory (probably garbage, but hey-ho) that viewing in such a narrowband of light is unknown to our ocular system. You definetley see more aftger viewing for a while, which helps with focus and tuning. After a bit of experience you will find that the details "snap" into vision.

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Those are simply breathtaking images! 

Thank you. Gotta admit that my processing skills (such as they were) are pretty damn rusty. I kept staring at Photoshop like a dog that's just been shown a card trick* wondering which damn button to push! 

*Thank you Bill Hicks, you absolute legend!

2 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

I have switched to a 290MM, and whilst it fits over half the disc in the fov, I’m out of luck when out comes to going mosaics.  Takes a fairly decent pc to run the 6MP at full pelt I think?

Mosaics can be a PITA if the conditions are a bit changeable or the seeing is all over the place. Photoshop does a good job, but if it fails then Microsoft ICE can sometimes succeed. I stack the panes, merge into a mosaic and then sharpen. That seems to work for me.

2 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Very nice Stephen, when you say it fits nicely on the sensor are those full images or cropped ? I have the same setup and have trouble getting the Sun centred vertically with my clunky old iEQ45.

Dave

Thanks Dave. It just about fits on the sensor. I used a ROI of 2560 x 2048 and it just about squeaks in there. There's no room for any drifting though, so the mount needs to be solid and track well.

7 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

I kinda regret selling my 178 now. These are superb images. 

Thank you.

I only had a chance to test it in the late afternoon between the clouds, so not ideal conditions.

The camera seems to match the Lunt 60 well. Nice to be able to capture a full disc without having to mosaic!

Testing a new ASI 178 camera on the Lunt L60

Image details:
Full disc fits nicely on the chip.
Double-stacked Lunt L60 pressure tuned.
ASI178 camera.
Mesu 200 mount.
Captured in Firecapture, stacked in AS!3. Sharpened in ImPPG.
Final processing in Photoshop.

07_06_2020 Full Disc Normal Proms Inverted DiscGrad Bkgrnd by Stephen Jennette, on Flickr

07_06_2020 Full Disc Normal Proms Inverted Disc by Stephen Jennette, on Flickr

07_06_2020 Full Disc Inverted Proms Normal Disc Pseudo Colour by Stephen Jennette, on Flickr

07_06_2020 Full Disc Inverted Proms Normal Disc Mono by Stephen Jennette, on Flickr

On 30/05/2020 at 17:04, Astrosurf said:

Many thanks all. I did finally get it to focus. I was rushing in as my PST is so easy. I should have used an EP first, to get the pressure tuning right and see what activity there was. I did this on an 8mm EP. It worked well. I was advised to remove the EP holder from the filter diagonal and attach the cam directly to the diagonal. This worked well although I had to pull the diagonal a little way out of its holder, which I was also advised to do.

I can get focus with a 3x Barlow well now, but the exposure setting has to be pushed so far up in SharpCap that the frame rate drops down to practically nothing! I'm using USB 3.

An X3 Barlow is pushing it and will darken the image considerably. I find that an X3 is barely usable with my Lunt L60 in singlestack mode, never mind doublestacked. You will also need excellent seeing to use an X3

Slow down and take a step back. Make sure that your solar finder is set up correctly. Stick an eyepiece in and get used to tuning the Etalon. The pressure tuning is very precise and with practice you will be able to take the 'scope slightly off-tune into the red and blue wings to make different feature stand out. Get used to focusing as well. Precise focus is essential.
Don't underestimate the effects of seeing (both local and atmospheric). On the recent really hot days the seeing is very turbulent and often makes it nearly impossible to get precise tuning and focusing. Even more so as the day progresses and the ground heats up. Try and set up away from concrete or patios and these will drastically worsen the local seeing.

Getting camera spacing correct can be a pain as the focal plane is very narrow. Until you get really au fait with the 'scope it's easier to tune and focus with an eyepiece, then insert the camera. A shade for the laptop screen helps enormously as you can see what's happening as you manually move the camera in and out of the focuser.

Most importantly, DONT PANIC. I've seen people getting really frustrated with the views until they realise that they are looking at a ghost refection! (Again, check your solar finder is properly set up). Take your time, unless you are very very unlucky the 'scope will be perfect. It takes a lot of experimentation to get the best out of the kit, but once you do the spectacular secrets of the Sun are there for you to see.

On 27/05/2020 at 00:23, Mikyg said:

Yes i removed the dust inserts, cleaned and regreased but i’m getting so many different views on this, some saying pack hard and some saying too much lol

Why would you think that the manufacturer knows less than us? its a sealed bearing, so it will be pre-greased with the correct amount.

Bear in mind that the bearing was made to run a lot faster than a mount axis too. 1 revolution per day is hardly going to stress a bearing meant for hundreds of RPM.

44 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Is it ok for me to share this to a astronomy group page on facebook?

Sure, as long as credit is given. Please link to the Astrobin image.

30 minute animation of Hedge Prom

1 frame captured every minute for 30 minutes.
Each frame was stacked from 10% of 800 frames.

12 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

ZWO ASI178MM is a much better match, it's what I and a few others on here use with the LS60.

Dave

2.4micron pixels versus the 5.86 of the 174. The 174 is great for a long focal length system such as a Quark.

25 minutes ago, Altocumulus said:

And yet the 174 is supposed to be a commonly used cam on the L60...

I have a 174 and use it with a PowerMate 2.5 for this exact reason. At native focus you can see the individual pixels as you have to zoom in so much.

Hedge Prom 31 May 2020 by Stephen Jennette, on Flickr

Quark Chromosphere on Esprit 120 triplet with ASI174mm

The seeing was dreadful, so only stacked the best 10% of 800.

The pixel size on a ASI174 are too large for a Lunt 60. Once you zoom in you will see "blockiness" around the edges. You'll need to Barlow up to increase the image scale.

22 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 Lots of extra space, I think it can take several people.

 

It was decked out with 4 seats.

3 hours ago, GuLinux said:

Yes, I already followed that one (the second process, subtracting the blurred image). The image I posted is after I already reduced the uneven illumination, it was a lot worse before  😅

If it's out of focus then no amount of processing will make it as good as an infocus image.

1 hour ago, GuLinux said:

.I still have to learn how to properly do flats (I've read the "cling film" procedure before, I think I've tried it once, but I wasn't really satisfied by it, but I don't remember why. Have to give it another go)

 

If you use Firecapture as your acquisition software then you will be able to create flays inside FC and have those applied to the movie stream. It will impact slightly on your FPS, but if your camera has a fast rate then the impact might not be too bad.

http://www.urbanastro.co.uk/blog/using-firecapture-to-eliminate-newtons-rings

Make sure that the axis of tilt is along the long axis of the camera sensor. This minimises the distance from the focal plane across the sensor.

Play around with the tilt as well.I have mine set so there is a hint of NRs (which keeps the tilt to a minimum). I usually correct for these faint NRs with a solar flat.

16 hours ago, Helen said:

I'm getting back into solar imaging, and wondering whether it's time to upgrade my solar camera.  I'm using an old skyris 274 for speed, or the asi1600 for fov.  The asi1600 runs at 2 or 3fps though, so catching the good seeing is challenging.  So I wondered what the current weapon of choice is for good resolution but at fast frame rate?

Thanks

Helen

What scope are you using? You'll need to match the pixel size with the focal length.

I use a ZWO174 with my Quark and it partners well with that. The 5.86 micron pixels match the long focal length that the Quark inbuilt Barlow produces. On my Lunt 60mm however, the pixels are too large. It's just about OK if I Barlow the Lunt to the point where I need to do a three-pane mosaic to get the full disc. Ideally the Lunt needs something with much smaller pixels.

Another point to consider is the electronic shutter. Ideally a global shutter is needed. A rolling shutter can produce artefacts at high frame-speed, especially when fast moving objects are being imaged (solar flares or regions around active sunspots)

7 hours ago, newbie alert said:

On the subject of tilt adapters, where do you use it as most that I've seen are m42 size and most camera's are c threads ..

Something I need to sort, as with a pst mod..

Directly in front of the camera. I use a ZWO camera that has T-Threads as standard.

1 hour ago, Helen said:

Thanks both 😁. I was having problems with nr with the powermate and the asi yesterday too.. 🥺

Helen

Powermates are well known for generating Newton's Rings. Get a Rowan Astronomy (or similar) tilt adapter in there.

Any disk that relies on spinning iron will struggle with today's high speed USB3 cams. You will need SSD storage to keep up allied to USB3.

Don't mention it. I didn't do anything other than load it onto the astrometry engine and it did all the magic!  It's amazing the quantity and quality of tools and resources out there on the Web