10-04-2015 Sushine - "Radio Pig"

[Pig]

Good morning all this is Radio Pig bringing you the daily update of events on the Sun  (I almost said Radio Ham)

Luke the hairy caterpillar has roamed a little further north, heading to ward the plant shaped prom  no surprises there, Luke is looking as menacing as ever

The prom in the 2 O'clock position is still blazing away but has decreased in size, still a great sight to see and worth a look

A new prom has started to develop in the 10 O'clock position, best keep our eyes on that one 

The flare located in a central position has not died away yet, as expected, and is beginning to look bright again. PLanet earth might get a roasting after all...!!!!

Surface detail is excellent, the granulation is peppered everywhere with a small region of sunspots making there way from east to west. or is that west to east  Beautiful orange and greyish contrasting colours all over.

It looks like we are in for another good day for catching some rays

[Stu]

That's a slice of good luck Shaun [emoji6]

[Pig]

LoL ..... I was getting in a bit of a pickle if I am honest .... and I have developed a sty from all this solar observing

[Stu]

Don't do anything rash, errr, I think I'll go and put my scopes bacon the mount and have a look too.

Sorry, scraping the bottom of the barrel there. [emoji6]

[Pig]

LoL Stu... rash... tut tut.....I think I have a touch of sunburn, does anyone have any oinkment ?

[Stu]

Clouded over here now. That active region livened up a bit before it did though, quite bright still

[Stu]

Slight diversion Shaun, how well do your scopes line up? I normally use a guidescope mount on one of the clamps so I can get perfect alignment quickly. Getting horizontal alignment seems tricky otherwise?

[Moonshane]

I prefer mine slightly misaligned. Seems sensible to prolong filters when not looking through a scope. Plus it means the wl wedge cooks down when observing in ha

[Pig]

Stu,

I use my equinox with the HW and a 25mm eyepiece as a finder

Alignment accuracy depends on the magnification in the wedge, if a use a 25mm in the HW then the sun is in both objectives but not perfectly centred, if I use a 6mm in the HW then the sun is just about in view in the 12 O'clock position in the Quark.

I can get them both almost spot on if I need to, but even the tightening of the screw when setting the vertical plane is enough to knock it out of line

Similar to "GoTo" with high and low mag, the target is always in the objective at low mag but is nowhere to be seen at high mag

But as Shane pointed out I like one to start where the other ends, as it acts as a form of heat control. Just to be on the cautious side.

[Stu]

Gosh you are a conservative pair aren't you [emoji6]

I've not thought of it like that, and do enjoy having both centred at the same time so I can switch quickly if I want to compare something.

[Pig]

Stu

I would like to be able to move the position of the adjuster knob for the horizontal control, if you look in the pic attached in the third thread you can see it is directly under the extension, most annoying at times, even though I don't have to adjust it often it still grates on me  Any ideas ?

[Pig]

LoL it doesn't take long to get them in view Mr speedy Gonzales

[Stu]

Stu

I would like to be able to move the position of the adjuster knob for the horizontal control, if you look in the pic attached in the third thread you can see it is directly under the extension, most annoying at times, even though I don't have to adjust it often it still grates on me Any ideas ?

My only thought is to do something like I have done and raise the giro on a narrow pillar. I put something together from Ali tube and a top disk, it's very solid and brings the mount away from the tripod plate so gives you more room to access the adjustment. It also helps avoid hitting the tripod if observing at the zenith.

Stu

[Pig]

Cheers Stu..... I guess it must be pot luck and it locates where the thread tightens up when the body screws on.

The tripod isn't an issue as you can position the legs so you don't get a clash. However, yours is a very good idea and is worth looking into.

I may just put a smaller diameter knob on to it as it only just shaves the extension. or even get a longer thread on the knob to take it out of the away completely  

[Pig]

No such luck today...its actually raining this morning

[Luke]

Nice one, Radio Pig

The clouds have done a hambush today : -o

[Pig]

Oh my lord   As there is no sunshine to ogle I guess I will be scratching around for something to do