Show us your Solar Observing Equipment

[Davenn]

4 hours ago, Sunshine said:

So the Quark roulette wheel keeps spinning, every time i think id like to give them a shot, i am beginning to wonder if it is worth the risk selling my Lunt which works beautifully with great and even disc detail. Yes it may not get as close as a Quark

but it is reliable as heck and instantly performs once brought out every time, i have seen some great prominence detail on good seeing days, i think the only way in hell i would sell it is if i looked through a used Quark someone is selling, their testimony would be the only way id hand over cash for a product who's manufacturer just doesn't seem to take themselves seriously. Would you seriously buy a television from a company who's TV's sometimes turn on, sometimes not, some say colour on box but are black and white, if lucky you'll get a colour version with working remote!!, i think not!.

 

I have both ...

the Lunt LS60THA and the Quark Camera Chromosphere

The Lunt gets all the use, The quark drives me nutz having to wait for it to come to temperature at startup and then every time I retune

The ~AU$2000 quark has been used maybe 3 times

 

Dave

[Davenn]

my current solar observing setup

(without the ZWO ASI 178MC imager attached)

 

 

[Sunshine]

Davenn, i understand what you say, too bad Daystar can't seem to put a product out that performs consistently, i love my Lunt which i recently had shipped to Lunt for pressure tuning retrofit, i bought my Lunt used and it was tilt tuned at the time with starlight focuser and B1200 filter which was great.

Unfortunately the tuning wheel did not seem to do much at all regardless of how much i tuned it while keeping an eagle eye on the details, nothing seemed to happen so i decided to spring for the pressure tune retrofit and it has made a world of difference 

in the scopes performance, the pressure tuner is great and allows for such fine tuning, im assuming your tilt wheel works well because both lunt and my local dealer convinced me that mine was working but i begged to differ.

[Pig]

@Sunshine, it’s the  same issues, not new ones.  Just the same people having free spins....... most retailers have had there fingers burnt and are checking them before selling them.  £1000 versus £2400 + with a crappy focusser.  But hey as the old saying goes......you pay the  money and take your choice ?

[Davenn]

On ‎9‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 02:53, Sunshine said:

Davenn, i understand what you say, too bad Daystar can't seem to put a product out that performs consistently, i love my Lunt which i recently had shipped to Lunt for pressure tuning retrofit, i bought my Lunt used and it was tilt tuned at the time with starlight focuser and B1200 filter which was great.

Unfortunately the tuning wheel did not seem to do much at all regardless of how much i tuned it while keeping an eagle eye on the details, nothing seemed to happen so i decided to spring for the pressure tune retrofit and it has made a world of difference 

in the scopes performance, the pressure tuner is great and allows for such fine tuning, im assuming your tilt wheel works well because both lunt and my local dealer convinced me that mine was working but i begged to differ.

 

Yeah, I'm so pleased I went with the B1200 filter as well,  the wider FOV makes a huge difference for viewing ease

my Lunt LS60THa is  fitted with a Crayford 10:1 microfocuser ... it's really nice for sharp focussing

Yes, my tuning wheel works ... but it is pretty subtle .... I find it really an end to end of tuning range that makes the difference between proms and surface features

I just don't know if it should be working better ??  haha

I would like to see through a scope that has the pressure tuning just to see the difference

 

Dave

 

[Sunshine]

18 hours ago, Davenn said:

 

I would like to see through a scope that has the pressure tuning just to see the difference

 

Dave

 

Well i can honestly say that the difference between my tilt tuner (and i really mean it did practically nothing to affect details) and pressure tuning was the difference between driving a family sedan and a sports car, when i brought the scope in focus what i saw was what i got with my tilt tuner. The pressure tuner allowed me to tune through several different features with finer detail and it was possible to finely tune a sweet spot where a bit of everything was visible, Pressure tuners require more attention and some grease and "O" rings every so often but the difference felt like i was finally utilizing the Lunt's potential.

[Merlin66]

My experience with tilt tuned etalons is slightly different....takes a bit of finesse but the results are just as good as those I saw through a double stacked Lunt.

(I had a "fine tuning knob" on my external double stacked SM60 filters - a Vegemite lid controlled from the eyepiece.)

[Pig]

It looks like a posh drainpipe ?

Edited January 13, 2018 by Pig

[Merlin66]

Hmmmm

That’s a little unkind for a $ 2000 investment in Ha solar filters.....

 

 

[Stu]

On 07/01/2018 at 20:42, Pig said:

By a lemon I take it you mean the surface detail is not consistent across the visible area (striped or patchy) or some areas of small distortion.

Shaun, by lemon, I would mean those that simply have too wide a band pass across the whole field and so don't show nearly as much detail. They still fall within spec, and someone inexperienced with Ha might think it was fine.

Quarks are great when they are good and reliable. Mine had a tight bandpass and showed great detail, but when operating at it's tightest i.e. at optimum focal ratio, it did show banding across the image. I was always ok with this because the detail visible was amazing.

If they have improved QA then that's great, as you say I've have not heard of any complaints recently either so hopefully things have improved. 6 months for a repair is just a little long though surely?

[Stu]

3 hours ago, Merlin66 said:

My experience with tilt tuned etalons is slightly different....takes a bit of finesse but the results are just as good as those I saw through a double stacked Lunt.

(I had a "fine tuning knob" on my external double stacked SM60 filters - a Vegemite lid controlled from the eyepiece.)

Heath Robinson would be proud Ken, bet the views are lovely  

[Pig]

Stu, any disruption for new equipment that you have paid hard cash for is unacceptable, let alone six months. However, some poor experiences can be overcome if the customer service experienced to make it good is top notch.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'll very soon be replacing the Hershel Wedge in the image of my solar setup (1st image) with a Quark Chromosphere:

Im very excited about the imminent arrival of  my Quark. Ha observing is something ive wanted to do for a long time now (probably from about the same time i started WL observing). I'll be keeping the wedge because i love the view it gives of sunspots and surface granulation.

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by LukeSkywatcher

[Floater]

I’m sure you will love Ha, Paul ... even though the Big Fella is rather quiet just now. ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

21 minutes ago, Floater said:

I’m sure you will love Ha, Paul ... even though the Big Fella is rather quiet just now. ?

Glad you brought that up. Sorry if i go off topic here a little. When the Sun is quiet in WL (no spots), is there still stuff to see in Ha, such as proms,filaments etc?.

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by LukeSkywatcher

[LukeSkywatcher]

So this is what a "Double" stack looks like?. Seems a bit like a money maker (for retailers/makers)  to me. Cant they make a single filter and double the "strength" of it?. Seems silly to have to pay for 2 filters. They could charge 3/4 of the price of 2 filters.

 

 

[Pig]

It does make you wonder @ Paul but I am sure there will be some scientific excuse to back it up ?

Edited January 16, 2018 by Pig

[Stub Mandrel]

Looks like it may well be an early end to the current cycle after all.

http://www.sidc.be/silso/home

Seems to be projecting an end in late 2018, about a year early.

See the pages on 'spotless days' with divides transitions into those before 1915 (long, lots of spot-free days) and those since (short, fewer spot free days), except the last minimum in 2008 fitted in the 'Victorian' sequence. Seems we may be heading for a long dry spell for spot-hunters.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

4 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Looks like it may well be an early end to the current cycle after all.

http://www.sidc.be/silso/home

Seems to be projecting an end in late 2018, about a year early.

See the pages on 'spotless days' with divides transitions into those before 1915 (long, lots of spot-free days) and those since (short, fewer spot free days), except the last minimum in 2008 fitted in the 'Victorian' sequence. Seems we may be heading for a long dry spell for spot-hunters.

 

Do i look/sound deflated?. I feel deflated. 2018 was going to be my year for Solar observing. Now it seems that isnt going to be very productive. My new Quark might make a nice paper weight.

[Pig]

12 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Do i look/sound deflated?. I feel deflated. 2018 was going to be my year for Solar observing. Now it seems that isnt going to be very productive. My new Quark might make a nice paper weight.

I doubt it Paul... there are still some great proms to be seen and the surface detail is very different to white light ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

19 minutes ago, Pig said:

I doubt it Paul... there are still some great proms to be seen and the surface detail is very different to white light ?

Thats great to know. I did pose the question above to something Floater said. I wasnt sure if Proms,filaments etc were directly connected to spots and spot activity. I should know better because looking at images in WL when there is nothing going on, the Ha observers/imagers are as busy as beavers. I didnt buy a Quark to see sunspots. They happen on a different level of the Sun to Ha activity.

 IIRC from a diagram Shane posted of the Sun, Ha looks through the layer of the Sun where spots appear and show a deeper down layer of the surface., as well as showing Proms (CME).

Here's the diagram. Sorry, i know this is verging on solar observing rather than "show us your solar observing gear".

I also stand corrected. Sunspots start in the photosphere and work their way to the chromosphere. The surface detail of the chromosphere is much more active than that of the photosphere (going by the diagram)

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by LukeSkywatcher

[Pig]

I believe a filament is a prom... just viewed from a different perspective. A prom is protruding outward from on the limb, as we see it.... where as filament is a birds eye view as if flying over it ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

19 minutes ago, Pig said:

I believe a filament is a prom... just viewed from a different perspective. A prom is protruding outward from on the limb, as we see it.... where as filament is a birds eye view as if flying over it ?

Indeed. Both are the same thing just observed from a different perspective. Quite different and exciting in their own right though.

I do want to do Solar imaging soon. I just hope my scope/tripod can handle the weight of a 450D hanging on the back of it. The 70mm Travelscope is a solidly built scope and the Horizon 8115 tripod is pretty rock steady. The 450D is quite light without a lens on it. I have all the bits to attach it to a scope. Ive just never done it before.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by LukeSkywatcher

[Peter Drew]

My latest PST mod. It's another 6" F10 using a Istar objective, similar setup to my own version. 110mm internal D-ERF, WO dual speed focuser and two projection type solar finders.

[Floater]

17 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Glad you brought that up. Sorry if i go off topic here a little. When the Sun is quiet in WL (no spots), is there still stuff to see in Ha, such as proms,filaments etc?.

I’m late in coming back, Paul, but obviously you already know the answer. It’s ‘YES’! ? 

I repeat, you’ll love it. It is quite quiet at present but you’ll be an expert by the time the cycle turns. ? I very much doubt that your Quark will be a paper weight !!