First Light with Lunt LS35

[Bobby1970]

There was a break in the cloud cover and i noticed the back garden was bathed in sunlight so i thought i would try and have a quick go with my new (to me) LS35.

I have a homemade short dovetail which i used to mount the scope on my Vixen Porta II. 

 

Once the sun had cleared some trees in the general direction i was pointing i used the sol finder to easily get the sun in a 20mm eyepiece. 

I found that i the focus point was right at the top of the helical focusers travel so adjusted the eyepiece up a little so i could more easily determine the best focus for myself by having more "un focused" views either side of the actual focus point.

I simply looked at the edge of the suns disc until it appeared nice and sharp. 

It was then, that i initially thought i must have been imagining seeing something, but no, there it was, clear as anything, a prominence, and another, and another.

I fiddled with the brass tuning wheel at the front of the scope and more detail appeared on the disc itself. After playing with it a little, seeing the proms and surface detail vary, i settled on a position where i could see both, in pretty good detail as far as i was concerned. some filaments, sunspots and granulation of the surface were all visible at the same time as at least three prominences of varying sizes.

I switched to the supplied lunt 12mm eyepiece and the views were obviously more magnified but the image quality was still very good.

By now cloud keep drifting over and i was about to lose the conditions.

I couldn't resist sticking my phone up to the eyepiece and attempting a shot.

After processing the hell out of it i managed to get this:-

 

Which considering its a single heavily processed frame from a phone, i don't think is too bad. 

 

The whole experience, although short, was amazing, and to see the things i saw, the surface of a star, the proms etc has really blown me away.

Some of my most enjoyable observing and imaging recently has been of the moon, and i am pretty sure along with the sun, these two will certainly be subjects i spend a lot of time on, both observing and imaging.

 

[DevonSkies]

Nice report. Solar viewing sounds fascinating.  I'd love a H-alpha scope myself some day. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great first light report. The LS35 was my first H-alpha solar scope, and I loved it. Made quite a few images with it as well. A 12mm is just about the sweet spot for that scope I found, although I also got very good results with the Pentax XF 8.5mm, and a 24mm MaxVision. The latter could sometimes show ghostly detached proms that the higher magnifications couldn't.

Nice afocal shot, too

[laudropb]

Very good first light report and a nice image for a phone.

[Bobby1970]

I do have a question, and it may be a stupid one but here goes.

When focusing, the whole eyepiece moves, so how do i know which way up the sun is???

I think this would be more of an issue when imaging as the CCD cam i use will rotate in the focuser, thus rotating the view???

 

[Joseki]

Hi, glad you've got to try it out.  The rotating focuser is the most hassle with the Lunt 35. I've been wondering whether it would be possible to swap mine for a non-rotating model.  The threads on the focuser means that you can replace it with a T extension tube so it should be possible (variable T extension tube??).  In the few times I tried imaging with it I unclamped the camera in the focuser and allowed it to stay roughly unrotated as the focuser moved (I was lightly holding the camera cable).  With visual, rotating the EP doesn't rotate the view if you don't move (other than any dust).  As for what is the right way up I guess you could make a note from visual inspection or look at a website like SOHO and rotate the image in post processing later.

  Also, with regards moving the EP up the tube to get focus you may be unaware but you can also move the diagonal out a bit - which would probably be more secure (and it's what the manual suggests you should do - first get rough focus by adjusting the diagonal then fine focus using the focuser).

 

[Bobby1970]

2 minutes ago, Joseki said:

Hi, glad you've got to try it out.  The rotating focuser is the most hassle with the Lunt 35. I've been wondering whether it would be possible to swap mine for a non-rotating model.  The threads on the focuser means that you can replace it with a T extension tube so it should be possible (variable T extension tube??).  In the few times I tried imaging with it I unclamped the camera in the focuser and allowed it to stay roughly unrotated as the focuser moved (I was lightly holding the camera cable).  With visual, rotating the EP doesn't rotate the view if you don't move (other than any dust).  As for what is the right way up I guess you could make a note from visual inspection or look at a website like SOHO and rotate the image in post processing later.

  Also, with regards moving the EP up the tube to get focus you may be unaware but you can also move the diagonal out a bit - which would probably be more secure (and it's what the manual suggests you should do - first get rough focus by adjusting the diagonal then fine focus using the focuser).

 

Many thanks for the tips. I don't think i will be replacing the focuser but leaving the camera loose until focused is worht a go. It had also occured to me to check out something like SOHO, then rotate my imag to match.

As for the manual................................its no fun if you read the manual first. lol

 

Thanks again for the tips

[Joseki]

Cheers, btw I've been thinking of trying this focuser:

 

http://www.365astronomy.com/1.25-Non-rotating-Helical-Micro-Focuser-with-T-thread-and-0.05mm-Scale.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjwt763BRDZx_Xg3-Pv2cABEiQAoDfeGN1crqC-2-vDfHOXTW28ZUVQLQRK2vT-Imkncl7kLfcaAjZX8P8HAQ

 

though I haven't convinced myself it would work so it would be a gamble.  

[Bobby1970]

Interesting, it wouldn't be the end of the world if it didn't work for that sort of money either.