What if the unthinkable were to happen? ?

[Stu]

To date I've been purely a visual observer, and very much enjoy this side of things. I do enjoy taking quick snaps of the sun and moon with an iPhone through my scope; I like the simplicity and speed of it all. I don't want to end up spending hours imaging and processing, but would like to achieve some better results, probably with stacking of video frames. If anything I'm more interested in achieving detailed close ups of Active Regions rather than full disks, and don't want to get into mosaics.

So, esteemed solar imagers, what should I do? I don't want to spend a fortune......

Kit I currently have :

Vixen GP mount with iOptron GotoNova

Tak FC-100D

Baader Zeiss 2" Herschel Wedge

Baader Continuum filter

Canon 1000D

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 which I believe is only USB 2.0

I also have a variety of Barlows such as an AP Barcon, Baader VIP and a Televue x2.5 PowerMate with T2 adaptor.

So..  Would the DSLR be any use? If not, I have looked at these two....

ZWO ASI178MM

ZWO ASI120MM

I'm happy with mono I think, just looking for maximum detail, minimum fuss!! I also like the idea of the all sky capability of these cameras with the supplied lens.

All thoughts welcomed.

Cheers!

[ArmyAirForce]

I have an ASI120MM, Solar Continuum filter ( with IR block filter ) and use it on a Skywatcher 200PDS and Evostar 80ED. When the seeing is good, the results are great. I also use my Nikon D3200 DSLR with a x2 teleconverter in video mode on the Evo 80ED, for full disc shots. On the DSLR, the two green pixels for every red and blue, helps with the detail, as white light features show best in green light.

 

[estwing]

well that's a bad start....don't want to spend a fortune!....good luck!

[michaelmorris]

If you want to have a (relatively) hassle-free dipping your toe into solar imaging, I'd just start with your DSLR.

[Bizibilder]

You could use the 1000D to take full disk pictures of the Sun or Moon easily enough - you have a focal length of 740mm so that will work well.  For close-ups the ASI120mm will be fine if matched with the 2.5x powermate - again this would work well for both Sun and Moon.  That is more or less the combination I use regularly (but not a TAK!! ).  You may want to splash out £20 on some solar film rather than using the wedge?  Luckily mono is fine for both the Sun and Moon.  if you want "pretty pictures" you can colourise them with freeware like GIMP - but for the Moon mono is good enough almost all of the time.

[Macavity]

Well, the ZWO ASI120MC/MM cameras certainly made me wish I had broken 
my previous insistence of everything being done via "Video Astronomy"... 
Albeit from limited experience, I certainly LOVE them for solar & planetary!

Depends on budget? I would certainly take note of the different pixel size
throughout the family. The 3.5 micron pixels improve over my Watec's 8!
Then there's the projected data rate. Probably need an new Laptop now.
 

[ArmyAirForce]

My current laptop is dual core 2.2Ghz and 4GB of RAM and USB 2 sockets. It could handle the full sensor of the ASI120MM at about 85% USB traffic speed. Since replacing the hard drive with a solid state drive, I can push the full sensor up to about 96% USB traffic speed. For smaller regions of interest, I can go 100%.

The mono ASI120's are great cameras, and very good value for money. The addition of an IR Pass filter will also improve Moon shots over no filter at all, since IR light comes through the atmosphere better than other colours. This is from my Evo 80ED with the ASI120MM and Astronomik 742nm IR Pass filter.

[Davey-T]

Wouldn't start spending too much on solar imaging ATM as it's gone relatively quiet, though AR2529 has saved our bacon this week 

Dave

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I would start out with the DSLR. The can do really nice full disks. Should you ever want to get a quark, I thing the ASI174MM would be a lot better than the ASI120MM (which would need a reducer). The ASI178MM is a bit of an unknown, and I think it would be fine for WL, or even Ca-K, but for H-alpha it would probably not work well with the Quark (or my Solar Spectrum set) due to the slow focal ratio, which requires larger pixels. With an LS60, the ASI178MM becomes really interesting.

[Stu]

Thanks all, will read through in detail and digest!

No harm in trying the DSLR to start I guess.

A question, how would something like the ToupTek mono camera from FLO compare with the 120mm?

[paulastro]

It's a dilemma Stu.  I just stick with my Olympus E-M5 for white light and HA.  I don't even bother taking video sequences with it as I don't want the hastle of all the processing either.  I just snap away with single frames.  I process the individual frames a little using Elements 9.  Of course, the results are not in the league of stacked video frames, but it meets my needs.  I don't aim to be the worlds best solar image (just as well you might think ) but I do get the images I need for my records.  I actually do drawings from my daily disk shots - I never bother printing them.  I can be out and observing very quickly (less than five minutes) and take advantage of the most meagre break in the cloud.

[Debo]

I think for Solar/Lunar close ups your best option would be :-  ASI120mm, Herschel Wedge, 2.5x Powermate and finish off with Registax.

Job done.

[Helen]

The one thing I would say Stu is that solar processing from an AVI is really easy and quick - stack in AS2, tweak in IMPPG, job done

Helen

[Stu]

Thanks all for the input. I must say at some point I am tempted by an ASI 120, or even the 178 which seems to have good specs provided the scope is not too slow I assume?

I made a start today using the DSLR. As mentioned I'm keen to get reasonable close up views so I used the x2.5 PowerMate to first of all, then added the Barcon, and finally added a few extension tubes!

Haven't been able to download and process this yet, here's a picture of the screen, zoomed in to the AR. Certainly more detail than before.

Would BYE be worth buying for this type of imaging?