First Light Vixen A80M and First White Light

[SnakeyJ]

My first ever try with my home made white light filter and with the Vixen A80M.   I also did a lot of eyepiece testing with the supplied Vixen 0.965" EPs (20mm K, 12.5mm H and 6mm O) against the Zeiss EP's I got with my Telementor (24mm H, 16mm O and 4mm O).    These were tested with the origional Vixen 0.965 diagonal, though I also experimented using the scope straight through with my Baader 8-24mm zoom.

AR2339 was unmissable and huge, yielding some stunning fine detail as the seeing settled down and I was lost exploring this region for most of the session.

The longer focal lengths performed well, thought the 12.5mm gave a nice sharp full disk occupying 65% of the available FOV, but the star of the show was undoubtedly the 16mm ortho, which gave bright and clear views.

In comparison the Baader Zoom seemed soft and lacking in contrast, though it is still nice to to dial in the focal length and adjust to suit conditions without changing EPs.

The shorter focal length orthos were quite difficult to use, the 6mm is very dirty and needs a good clean and I found both uncomfortable in comparison to the 16mm.     To be fair I think both of these were beyond the seeing today, with the 6mm providing 151x and the 4mm, 227x magnification!      Although briefly, as some light cloud past over the seeing steadied and the 4mm revealed hints of finer detail.

The telescope itself is very nice indeed, the finder was bright, sharp and solid on terrestrial targets before filtering for solar use.   The RP focuser is very solid and no discernible backlash or droop, even near full extension with the camera and the Baader zoom.    It sat comfortably on my HEQ5 and was very comfortable to use, seated with the diagonal.   The mount seemed overjoyed to have a light load for once   I look forward to using this at night to star test, but no doubt in the quality of the optics.

One very quick image, taken at native focal length of AR2339 - not a good image as a first and rushed attempt at solar, but worth posting to demonstrate the scale of this feature:

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice report of a great little scope. Good image too

[SnakeyJ]

Very nice report of a great little scope. Good image too

Thanks, but too kind Michael, I've just been looking at your white light from today and it's a stunner!   But what a fantastic thing to see on my first outing on the light side

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks, but too kind Michael, I've just been looking at your white light from today and it's a stunner!   But what a fantastic thing to see on my first outing on the light side

Don't knock it. I was imaging at a larger image scale (1440mm vs 910mm in your case) with an APO, and got roughly the same level of detail. I also postprocessed with LR deconvolution.

[Pig]

Nice one Jake  keep the reports rolling in.

[SnakeyJ]

Nice one Jake  keep the reports rolling in.

Cheers Shaun, I will do provided the clouds oblige!

Need to start thinking about another mount now so that I can whip this out quickly when the time and weather allows

[Stu]

Jake, if your seeing conditions were anything like mine today you did really well with that image!!

I just about managed to get a half decent view for a few minutes but it wasn't great. Very nice AR though, huge!

[SnakeyJ]

Jake, if your seeing conditions were anything like mine today you did really well with that image!! I just about managed to get a half decent view for a few minutes but it wasn't great. Very nice AR though, huge!

Cheers Stu - conditions certainly not optimum, with this shot taken in late afternoon and very much a rush job after spending an hour or so at the EP(s) - but pretty confident that I can coax some better images out of this when the conditions allow.   I will add a green filter next time to see how this fares and may put some pennies aside for the solar continuum filter if results look promising.    Sure that a herschel wedge would be even better, but that will have to wait until the observatory is completed!