More from the Quark - two active regions and a prom - 30 May

[smerral]

Once again using the Daystar Quark,  ST102 and the ASI120MM.

[Peter Drew]

Very nice. Good advert for the Quark! 

[Luke]

Very nice, Smerral :laugh:

I'd be happy with images like these from the Quark, I take it, you're a happy bunny?

[smerral]

Yep! The Quark is definitely living up to my expectations.  I think the images it can produce compare very favourably with dedicated solar scopes.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice indeed. That flame-like prom has been there all day. Not very bright perhaps, but very big

[Uplooker]

Very nice. Good advert for the Quark! 

Hi Brian,

I do not profess to be a solar imager extraordinaire, nor am I, and do I appreciate that you are still trying to figure out the best configuration / tuning of the Quark but I do not think this is anywhere near the standard that you have achieved with your other scopes and thereby disagree with Peter's comment that it is a great advertisement for the Quark. I do not think that the images with the Quark are that great, others as well, not just yours.

Please do not take this as a personal attack, it is not intended to be, as I know what  you are capable of.

Personal opinion, it can only be, but I do not think that the Quark is all its cracked up to be. Better results can be achieved for a lot less expenditure.  I agree that this will satisfy a lot of people and certainly fulfill their expectations - just not mine.

Please do not take this as a personal attack or derogatory to you in particular, just my views.

Ian

P.S I do expect a flaming for my comments but I can take it

[paulastro]

Lovely pictures.  I think the image of the prominence is quite beautiful.

[smerral]

Hi Ian.  That's OK.  You are entitled to you view and I know it's not personal.  I have to say that I totally disagree with it though.  Much as I love my double stack PST, there is no way I could achieve the above resolution with it.  Comparing those surface shots with some I've seen with a solar max 90 for instance, there really is very little to choose between them.  Maybe the latter has a tad more contrast and less noise, but  even that may be due to conditions and stacking more frames.  At any rate, resolution and bandpass seem spot on with the Quark.  This is a superb piece of kit - and I'm not just saying that because I paid for it! If I were disappointed I would be the first to admit it!

Another point worth noting is that the Quark can be used on a variety of scopes.  This to my mind is a great asset.  The 4.2x in-built barlow may be a problem for scopes with longer f.ratios, leading to oversampling and necessitating the need of reducers.  On the other hand, shorter focal length scopes are more prone to spherical aberration.  I must say that the Skywatcher 102 works very well considering (it does well in CaK too).  I believe Daystar are going to produce a Quark at 2.1x, which should solve this problem.

Oh and Ian, looking at your avatar makes me think you are in line for the Philo Beddoe's treatment!!

Ps. I also see you are from the wrong side of the Pennines - it gets worse and worse!

[smerral]

Here's another prom shot - enlarged 150% 

[Peter Drew]

Ian. Perhaps I should further qualify my remark. It was made in the context of those who do not as yet have any Ha solar equipment but do have a suitable telescope. I'm in no hurry to add a Quark to my PST mods which I believe to give superior performance. If the future 2X Barlowed Quark allows the use of a short focus telescope, no appreciable sweet spot and a similar price then I will be interested. 

[DrRobin]

Looking very good Brian. The first two surface pictures remind me of Alexandra's SF100 pictures, I think you have got it cracked.

Perhaps you should write a Quark hints and tips user manual ready for the rest of us when ours arrive?

Peter, I think the 2.1 Barlow Quark will be for longer focal length scopes, all of Daystar's products require upwards of F/20 to work correctly.

Robin

[smerral]

Thanks Robin.  Well so far I have just had five short sessions with the Quark, so I'm still learning. Of course I would be happy to give any advice that might be useful.  Peter, if I had a working mod I would not have bought the Quark.  Some of the mods I've seen give really excellent results and there is not much point in buying something which doesn't add to what you already have.  Plus there is the fun of adapting your own scope. It just wasn't the way for me.

[dazzaa1966]

Fantastic images smerral. Anyone starting solar observing/imaging

should look at your images. For the same price as PST

iys a no brainer.Wish I had waited for your images with

the Quark before paying £2000 for my lunt. Once again

stunning images...

[smerral]

Fantastic images smerral. Anyone starting solar observing/imaging

should look at your images. For the same price as PST 

iys a no brainer.Wish I had waited for your images with 

the Quark before paying £2000 for my lunt. Once again

stunning images.

Thanks for that. I think the Lunt will give you the opportunity to do high resolution full disc shots, something which the Quark is not really designed to do.  The Coronado PST is around £650, so it's cheaper than the Quark.  As you may know I have a double stack PST which IS more expensive overall but which does give some excellent high contrast mosaics.  I consider the Quark a VERY welcome addition to my solar kit though!

[Pete Presland]

you certainly have captured some very fine detail with it!

[Montana]

These are absolutely fantastic images Brian :) certainly you have the resolution of a 100mm etalon and this is terrific for the price. But everyone has to remember, it is horses for courses, if you are able to do a PST mod then do it, I certainly could never do it! so the Quark would win for me, if you wanted full disc views then buy a Lunt, if you want to do high res very cheaply then get the Quark. The only problem is the lack of contrast but in time that issue will be nailed.

Have fun Brian, that is what is important and if you can answer the low contrast issue then that would be great, if not, who cares

Alexandra

[smerral]

Have fun Brian, that is what is important and if you can answer the low contrast issue then that would be great, if not, who cares

I think the low contrast thing could be something characteristic of Daystar filters generally Alexandra.  It certainly requires a rather different processing routine than the PSTDS which admittedly gives superb contrasty images.  But basically the Quark does exactly what I bought it for - gives me the high resolution I couldn't get with the PST.