Solar News - 24 /03/14

[Pig]

Some lovely activity going on again this glorious morning especially so after the unsettled weather yesterday gave us

There is a lovely dendritic prominence flowing out a north east position, very pretty indeed ( from 90 million miles  ) I bet that looks spectacular close up.

Lots of fairly large prominences of the eastern tip also, in fact the more you look the more prominences there are scattered around most of the disc, some of them very active indeed and they seem to be popping up all over the show.

Lovely surface detail too with lots major activity going on west of centre where there is a group of sunspots plotting their evil deeds

That was the News at 10:00 

 Brought to you by Pig

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. I hope to get outside with the LS35 in an hour or so

[Luke]

Nice report, Shaun It's cleared up nicely after some fog in the early hours

[Pig]

Just a quick update.

There is a rather large amount of activity going on in the north west region, we may be in for an explosive afternoon it has once again come from nowhere

[Peter Drew]

"And finally,,,,,,,,"   Yes, a good session today, plenty of activity to keep an eye on. Just testing my latest PST mod, a 120mm F10 with BF15. Sky now rather milky due to high aviation activity, also very windy but seeing very good at times.    

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

"And finally,,,,,,,,"   Yes, a good session today, plenty of activity to keep an eye on. Just testing my latest PST mod, a 120mm F10 with BF15. Sky now rather milky due to high aviation activity, also very windy but seeing very good at times.  

120mm PST mod

DROOL!!

[Peter Drew]

This is my "grab and go", I already have a 150mm and 220mm mod. 

[Pig]

Sounds Ideal Peter   You should write a short book on how to modify scopes.

You will make a fortune.

[Peter Drew]

Merlin66 has already produced an excellent write-up containing everything you need to know regarding a PST mod. Send him a PM and he will forward you a copy. I only spend fortunes, never make them.    

[Pig]

Nice position to be in I guess

As an estimate what would it cost to convert what you consider decent 90mm scope Peter ?

[Peter Drew]

The cheapest route to a large Ha telescope is via the PST. All of mine have been purchased secondhand, average price £350. In addition you need an ERF and a donor telescope which needs to operate at F10. The Baader ERF's are the most recommended, their smallest listed is 75mm  and can be used in a mod up to around 150mm if mounted internally where the light cone is smaller. Secondhand, there is not a great deal of difference in the price of an achromat in the range of 4" to 6" so I don't think it's worth going much smaller than 4". Based on that line up the cost would be PST £350, new Baader ERF £250, donor scope £250. Total £850, not much more than a new PST and considerably cheaper than a 60mm Coronado or Lunt. A larger blocking filter than the standard 5mm PST unit is preferable but this adds a significant increase in cost. 

[Pig]

Thank you Peter very much appreciated