Are separate etalons better than a solar scope using the same etalon?

[Helen]

Visually my SF70 filter on a Megrez 72 is stunning.  It is an excellent filter.  I think it is also because the human eye/brain combo can cope with huge variations in brightness much better than a camera    So it is easy to visually see surface detail and prominences.  I moved up from a PST to a Lunt 50mm filter set (with the Megrez 72) and the difference was noticeable.  When I moved from 50mm to 70mm with the Solarscope filter that too was a quantum change.  The 70mm view just pops out at you, whereas it took time for the eye to start to discern fine detail with the Lunt.  (As an aside, this is brilliant for outreach where you need an immediate Wow! for most people.)

You might want to contact Ken in IoM directly - the direct price I paid was considerably cheaper than the prices advertised by Widescreen etc.

I'm in the process of doing the opposite to you - I have a Quark on the way, to give me extra resolution for imaging primarily.

It is amazing to see how far solar equipment has come in such a short period of time - happy days 

Helen

[jetstream]

Zakalwe my Quark stays at the same setting all the time, initially the best position had to be found- which for me is 2nd last ccw. I wonder if some people have to hunt around with their Quark trying to find the best position? My first 2 Quarks showed very noticeable banding and I was continually trying to tune this out. Fortunately now all I do is plug it in and view and the views are VG.

[paulastro]

Thanks Jetstream.  I have  a Quark chromosphere and I agree the visual images can be quite stunning.  The best views I've had with mine was using it with my TSA-102 with a binoviewer up at The Astronomy Centre in the company of Pete Drew.  Peter commented that it was the first time he had ever seen a view that had a 'photographic quality'.  Peter was quite right and on that day the images did indeed seem to be in 3D at times.  Particularly near the limb some features appeared concave or convex to the surface.  Stunning indeed!

With the best imagers (with their magic tricks  ) they just take the view to an even higher plane.

[paulastro]

Many thanks Zakalwe, I'll certainly contact you in due course if I may when perhaps we have a settled period of sunny weather - so it could be a long time1

[Pig]

Gerry/ Stephen.

My Quark also stays in the same position (one click past the centre) I find this ideal. by the time I have moved my scope outside and pointing at the sun it is warmed up. I also find viewing proms is almost instant and the warm up time is mainly for surface detail. Thus if there is a flare or a major event it can be seen as instantly as I could with my Lunt.

[paulastro]

Many thanks Helen, that's really valuable information, thank you.  The SF70 sounds like what I dream about - I became excited reading your description!  (sad, but true)
 
I expect to have to sell my own Quark, and possibly my TSA-102 as well to fund the system of my desire.  We are indeed going in the opposite direction.
 
 

[Luke]

My Quark lives on the same tuning too normally! (neutral - funny, as my older Quarks preferred 2 or 3 clicks clockwise I think, in the exact same scopes).I don't bother changing the tuning. Perhaps I would if I knew more about Ellerman bombs etc.

Personally I find the visual view with my 120mm scope just as good as images. Different, I would say (not surprising I guess that a camera sees it differently and the brain-eye thing is very complex I believe), but just as good. And in fact I think proms are a bit better visually, they are so rich at the eyepiece.

It's funny how we are all opposite. I have barely touched my SolarMax 60 since getting the Quark a year ago. The SM60 is a very nice scope but I found my Tele Vue 60 and Quark trod on its toes more than expected, I have done a ton of grab and go with it but I guess it depends on your exact needs (can't really hop off a bike and use it instantly like Michael may do) and indeed preferences.

I adore my Tele Vue 60 scope so find it a real treat to be able to view my favourite object, the sun, in it in h-alpha.

[jetstream]

I agree totally Luke, thanks your experienced info. I to notice that proms seem to show better visually, the very fine wisps and tendrils seem to be easy to see and I find that they need less mag than the surface. The image scale of the 120ED brings them alive under good seeing.

So is it because the eye has different qualities than the camera or is it just plain old harder to capture the proms in fine detail? I have been wondering this for some time actually.

Sorry to the OP for veering off topic- but I really wanna know

[Zakalwe]

You need to be able to move the bandpass if you want to view objects in the red or blue wings. That's where I absolutely love the pressure tuned Lunts...it's a remarkably effective method of tuning an Etalon.

[Merlin66]

The tilt tuning also does a good job ;-)

I regularly work across the red/ blue wings.

If you REALLY want to get adventurous think in terms of a Spectrohelioscope/ graph.

The current digital results are getting closer and closer to the dedicated filters everyday, and allow observing (well imaging...) at ANY selected bandwidth and wavelength.

[jetstream]

I knew I would end up with an additional Ha set up