Trying Quark Straight Through 60mm - 7th April

[Luke]

Hi All,

I recently came to the conclusion that the Quark in my 60mm scope was not quite right, contrast was a fair bit less than in my bigger scopes. At first I'd put it down to the scope being a bit faster, F6. But it didn't feel like quite the same Quark. So my guess was that in the 60mm, the Quark was not quite square with the optical axis (if that's the right way of saying it?), causing some loss of contrast/widening the bandpass.

So to check I tried using it straight through, you can see a straight-through config here:

astronomynow.com/reviews/daystar_quark/
 

It worked! Contrast was much better, it felt like it was the same Quark as from the bigger scopes   Thanks for looking, Luke

---
7th April, 2015
Tele Vue 60, Daystar Quark Chromosphere, ZWO ASI174, 0.5x reducer

[dazzaa1966]

Nice image Luke.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice shot, especially for that modest aperture

[dazzaa1966]

Luke have you tried this method on larger

scopes.

[spaceboy]

That's mind blowingly good for only 60mm Luke   I had the pleasure of visually looking through a quark in similar set up at SGLX but felt the views were very similar to my LS60. The quark sure does seem to work it's magic at imaging though!!

[Montana]

Wonderful images :)

Alexandra

[Stu]

Very nice Luke. Is that just an imaging effect or do you think it affects visual contrast too?

[Luke]

Thanks, all! Here's a prom with the same setup:

The image scale is more than I intended! I realised later that I had accidentally left a 1.6x Barlow on one of the extension tubes after the Quark! Not quite sure how it all measured up, I had my 0.5x reducer in play as normal, running usually at about 0.7x. And I also had a Baader Glass Path corrector near the camera. So I am thinking is this a first on SGL, three barlows and one reducer for a solar image?

Michael, I am sensing you have aperture fever   I am always amazed by how much detail David squeezes out of his PST! What scope/aperture do you think is next for your Solar Spectrum?

I have been tempted to get an 80mm grab and go, especially now I know from above that this image scale can work with my untracked imaging (thanks to the ASI174's fast frame rate and fairly large sensor), but I think I will stay with the Tele Vue 60. It's possibly my favourite scope and I think its destiny is full disc imaging in a relatively easy four or six tiles, once I really shake off my tiling phobia!

Stu, I am sure it will affect visual too, not had a chance to try getting a diagonal after the Quark yet. I had noticed contrast was lighter at the eyepiece compared with the other scopes. I need to check if anything needs tightening on the Tele Vue 60. I noticed some little screws today that I need to find out what they do, need to check again but for a moment it felt like there was play in the draw tube. Closer look needed!

dazzaa, I have not tried straight through with the other scopes yet, I am thinking they are okay as is, but curiosity might get the better of me I think anyone who is very much imaging should consider straight through.

This does make me think that if someone is struggling with their Quark/not happy with performance, it might be worth a shot to try straight through and see if it's that.

[JB80]

Well that has come up trumps Luke!

Looks like more 60mm shots will be imminent.

[Stu]

Luke, what's confusing me is that the contrast is probably best in my Tak 60....

[Pig]

Swit swoo Very nice indeed Luke

[Pete Presland]

lovely surface close up.

[Stardust]

looks good to me. I always use the quark straight through with 2" extension tubes

[sooot]

Great shots luke. Thats an odd triangular prom....i like

[Luke]

Luke, what's confusing me is that the contrast is probably best in my Tak 60....

F5.9? Very close to my Tele Vue 60. That will be the superior Tak optics!   Or your other scopes are not very good :grin: (I just of course, you have an amazing collection!)

The funny thing Stu is, I have used a few different Quarks and Sarah and I agree that two of them seemed to have more contrast in our F9 ED100 than our F7.5 ED120 (the 120 was still great, the 100 just really pinged and pound for pound was a bit better!). Yet with two other Quarks, they did not 'ping' more in the ED100 than in the 120   So it seemed to even change from Quark to Quark how good performance is in a particular setup. And we have the complication of how well aligned things are...

Speaking of which, a little update on my Tele Vue 60. Draw tube is in fact rock solid   On closer inspection, it looks like a cause of slop/movement was me not tightening the compression rings enough Must pop out and get some spinach.

[Luke]

Oops, wrong thread! Please can a mod delete? Thanks! Luke

[Stu]

Which bit do you want deleted Luke?