February 2, 2015: Quick look at big proms and further test of SM-II 60

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just had a brief gap between rain and snow showers, raced the SM-II 60 out of the office, set it up, and was amazed at the detail on disk and in the proms, even through slight haze. Two big proms can be seen on the eastern limb. Northwards of the equator, and on the eastern half of the disk, a long complex area of plage and sunspots can be seen. To the south of this, a big filament is visible. The western limb shows a nice prom as well, and a few nice plage areas. One is fairly small, but very bright, and looks like it is either the aftermath of a flare, or could go off any minute.

I also tried my R band filter in the B1200 blocking filter, but that did not shut out enough green. I will get myself a Baader 35nm H-alpha filter, which should work. As rain clouds threatened, I packed the stuff up quickly

[Davey-T]

Thanks for the info Michael, sunny here ATM hoping it lasts

Dave

[Luke]

Sooooo hazy here, fake sunshine! Thanks for being our eyes.

[spaceboy]

Haze here in Brum too. I gave white light a quick try just in case it might cut through the haze but nothing.

[Peter Drew]

We used up our solar allocation yesterday. Too hazy for instrumental observation today but a nice solar halo with naked eye. 

[Davey-T]

Nice Lunar halo now.

Dave

[Moonshane]

Hi Michael

I am interested in your comments re the bf1200 in a Coronado scope. I was considering this as an option for my pst but think maybe not now.

I wonder if this is an issue with a mismatch in the wavelengths in the Coronado 60 and if this would apply to the pst etalon.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hi Michael

I am interested in your comments re the bf1200 in a Coronado scope. I was considering this as an option for my pst but think maybe not now.

I wonder if this is an issue with a mismatch in the wavelengths in the Coronado 60 and if this would apply to the pst etalon.

I would go for a BF10 rather than a B1200 in combination with a Coronado scope, unless you are already using an ERF in the optical path in e.g. a PST mod. The only reason I am trying to get the B1200 to work is that I already have one.

[Moonshane]

Hi Michael

I am using a DERF in the light cone. Would this allow use of the bf1200 in an effective way? Forgive my ignorance of such things.

Thanks

Shane

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hi Michael

I am using a DERF in the light cone. Would this allow use of the bf1200 in an effective way? Forgive my ignorance of such things.

Thanks

Shane

I would think so, I used a Daystar ERF which gave excellent results, I am now getting a Baader 35nm H-alpha to screw into it. This may be better still (not that expensive either). A D-ERF should be better than my Daystar one, by most accounts

[Moonshane]

Thanks Michael, that makes me feel a bit happier.