Small apo with Herschel wedge vs reflector with foil

[Bender]

Hi

I am wondering what would give me sharper views of solar spots, a SW 80ed plus Baaders 2" Herschel wedge or my old 6" reflector with Baader foil.

Thank you

Ande

[Peter Drew]

Choice no1. 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

your 80ED+ herschel wedge. or if you dont have the ED,any frac with herschel will do better then a reflector with foil.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Andre I have been observing the Sun for over 40 years with various scopes and filters. 18 months ago I bought a Lunt 1.25" Herschel Wedge and the view using a Baader Continuum Filter just blew me away.

So to answer your question your SW 80ED + HW will be the best.

[Qualia]

That's an interesting question and whose solution won't put you out of pocket too much . The Baader Solar film is really quite cheap in relative terms, so you could make yourself a filter for both the Newt and the frac and see what set up works best for you over a period of time. The larger aperture will offer more resolution, perhaps the possibility to work at higher magnifications, but the frac may be quicker to get running, may offer a tidier image and be less susceptable to the limiting factor of seeing conditions.

My own feelings regarding the Herschel Wedge is that it isn't necessary to use a 2", unless you wanted to, of course. A 2" to 1.25" adapter to fit the focusing tube and you'd have a lightweight and compact set up. I use something like this for my TV 76 and it works fine. Going down this 1.25" route would certainly save yourself money and for visual work I doubt you would see much difference.

I use Lunt's 1.25" Herschel Wedge and the views are outstanding. Typically, I observe around 50x in both the 3" and 4" for sketching but so long as the seeing is steady, I can push this power if I need to tweak more detail from a given sunspot.

Whether you consider solar film or Herschel Wedge, you might want to consider a Baader Continum filter which I feel helps augment contrast and detail. For a good year, or so, I simply used a blue and yellow colour filter to get that green effect (or #58 filter) and Baader solar film Super cheap and with good results.

However, I did notice a significant improvement when I eventually switched to the Lunt Wedge. The ND 3.0 filter is necessary, the Continuum augments detail and a polarising filter helps adjust the brightness of the view by rotating the eyepiece. Whether you feel this image quality is worth forking out so much more I cannot say. But the views are spectacular. Good crisp detail often showing different solar white tones in the umbra, granulation is nearly always apparent and faculae bright and twisting. In short, a visual experience equal to or better than the white light images you see in the solar section.

Hand on heart, I'd rather view through the 80ED with Herschel Wedge than a 6" newt with solar film.

[Grotemobile]

Andre I have been observing the Sun for over 40 years with various scopes and filters. 18 months ago I bought a Lunt 1.25" Herschel Wedge and the view using a Baader Continuum Filter just blew me away.

 

So to answer your question your SW 80ED + HW will be the best.

 

I have got a 4" Vixen refractor,which I want to use for solar

imaging. Did not know about the Baader Continum filter.

A 1.25 Lunt wedge, seems the way to go. How do you line the scope

up, on the sun.I have got a polarising filter .I presume you need

a tracking mount.I know if you get thinks wrong, with imaging the sun,

it can be the end of your eye site.Just making sure what I need.

Thanks.

Steve.

[Bender]

Thanks for all the replies so far. My situation is that I already have a baader 2" wedge (older version) which I bought years ago but never used it as I had a Ha scope.

Now while I am saving up for a lunt 60 I thought I might as well give it a go and get a 80ed (anything bigger and I wouldn't probably use it as much as grab and go)

I already have a 150 xlt newt with solar film I got as holiday scope.

Hmm, so 80ed it is

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have got a 4" Vixen refractor,which I want to use for solar

imaging. Did not know about the Baader Continum filter.

A 1.25 Lunt wedge, seems the way to go. How do you line the scope

up, on the sun.I have got a polarising filter .I presume you need

a tracking mount.I know if you get thinks wrong, with imaging the sun,

it can be the end of your eye site.Just making sure what I need.

Thanks.

Steve.

Steve

I use one of these to locate the Sun - very safe - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/lunt-solar-accessories/tele-vue-sol-searcher-for-lunt-solar-telescopes.html

I don't have a tracking mount but now use a SkyTee 2 with slow motion controls. The attached photo shows my 4" Astro Tech on an old SkyTee 1 mount together with the Lunt Herschel Wedge and binoviewers - you can see the TeleVue Sol Searcher attached to the rings. I don't seem to need to use the additional Polarising Filter and the Baader Contiuum Filter when using the binoviewers. However, with a single eyepieces then it helps to have both the Contiuum and Polarising filter to adjust the brightness. When taking solar images I simply attach my Canon 50D to the Herschel Wedge and just use the Continuum filter. I attach a photo of the Sun using this method.

[Grotemobile]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/lunt-solar-accessories/tele-vue-sol-searcher-for-lunt-solar-telescopes.html

How do you attach this to your mount. I presume you have to line it up with the sun.

Is it best to use a mono webcam or a colour one.  That is all I have got. Is this the

same sort of process,as doing planetary imaging.Thanks for all the info Mark.Looking

for wood to getting into this. Sorry to hijack the thread Ande.

Steve

[hunterknox]

A 1.25 Lunt wedge, seems the way to go. How do you line the scope

up, on the sun.I have got a polarising filter .I presume you need

a tracking mount...

Steve.

With longer scopes and a Herschel wedge you can usually get a good fix on the sun by minimising the shadow on the ground, then looking down the objective lens (at a slight angle) to see where the light's catching and then just nudge your scope the right way to centre it on the wedge. I've had no problems with this method on a manual alt-az mount with a scope of similar size.

[Grotemobile]

Thanks for that.There is a 2 month wait for one of these

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/lunt-solar-accessories/tele-vue-sol-searcher-for-lunt-solar-telescopes.html

[Mark at Beaufort]

Here is an alternative which you will find on astroboot - http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

[Moonshane]

As much as I love my 6" f11 dob my 80mm f11 vixen and Lunt wedge was a noticeable improvement and my cheap skywatcher 120mm f5 achromat is a step further again. Works really well on my giro three. Visual only for me.

[Grotemobile]

Here is an alternative which you will find on astroboot - http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

 

astroboot.a.jpg

 

Thanks for that Mark.I have found it.

Just got to dig the Philips 840 ToUcam

Pro out.