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Just ordered a Lunt LS50THa scope

johninderby

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johninderby

johninderby

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Just ordered a Lunt LS50THa scope from FLO  :thumbsup:

I had been undecided about going for the 50 or the 60 but in the end decided the 50 was the better buy. I mean yes I would have liked the 60 with PT and Feather Touch but my wallet said otherwise. Have also ordered the Feather Touch focuser, Sol-Searcher and a short dovetail bar. Still works out hundreds less than the cheapest 60 but has the pressure tuning and Feather Touch that I wanted and can be double stacked in the future if I want to.

Got my old Manfrotto 475 tripod with modified 405 geared head down from the loft and dusted off. A bit overkill for such a small scope perhaps but you can't have too stable a mount. Have used a C8 on this mount so it won't even notice the Lunt. Will still be light enough to carry the full set-up outside one handed though.

I appologise in advance for the cloudy and rainy weather to come in the next couple of weeks.

         John

 

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Starlight-focuser_v3.jpg.dcf5a1a9ff3643b9ea4e01184fd81917.jpg

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johninderby

johninderby

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Well the bits arrived this morning. :hello2:

Lunt50-1.jpg.07d2dcacc036b101f416f897e68ee74d.jpg

 

First order of business was to fit the Feather Touch focuser which turned out to be a quick and simple job. Simply unscrew the stock focuser, screw the Feather Touch adapter in place and then fit the focuser and tighten the rotation screws. Must stop playing with the focuser now and get on with the rest of the job. :icon_biggrin:

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Then fit the dovetail bar and the Sol Searcher finder.

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And for the person who likes lots of knobs to twiddle..............:rolleyes:

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Now just to wait until a bright light appears in the sky. :thumbright:

Lunt50-6.jpg.4c32c7201118b4b3aab3338c28f5f15b.jpg

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johninderby

johninderby

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Sun was peeking through the clouds briefly so tried a few eyepices. The TS version of the Lunt zoom was fine as expected. Tried a few of the Celestron X-Cel LX and they were good too. Plenty of in and out focus left. Not sunny enough to do any proper observing but better than nothing.

Will probably get a Baader 6mm  ortho as my high power eyepiece.

              John

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johninderby

johninderby

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Well proper first light has been extremely disappointing. No real surface detail or proms at all despite equalising the pressure tuner first. Presure tuner gets much harder to turn as you wind it in so the seals are OK. Could be bad seeing and it's blowing a gale out there. The old tilt tuned LS60TH was a hundred times better than this. Even the PST was miles better.

Any suggestions?

Will try again later and hopefully will improve.

             John

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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The pressure tuner instructions aren't very good, I spent ages screwing mine in a little at a time but it ended up needing to be screwed nearly all the way in to tune it.

Not much detail to focus on ATM so focusing is tricky as well.

Dave

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Chris

Chris

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I've heard good things about the 50 so hopefully it's just a case of getting used to new kit and the seeing. I had the Lunt 35 B600 a couple of years back which was very good, a bit better than the PST I had before it I thought, so I'm sure the lunt 50 will come good. 

Sadly I sold my 35, I get excited about solar when the Sun comes out in the spring and summer, but end up dreaming of other things by the autumn, you could say I'm Solar bipolar.

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alanjgreen

alanjgreen

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There is not much on the disk at the moment. I went out at 1230 and found the conditions tricky!

there were proms at 1 and 9 o'clock. A nice "angel" prom at 1 o clock position was the best.

there were maybe a dozen filaments on the disk but they were all tiny and took some time to see them.

your best bet is to concentrate on the 12-3 positions where I could see 3 small pores and some faint filaments.

it will take a while to get used to tuning the pressure, it's easy when there is more on the disk. I usually find that I get an improved view by taking a small amount of pressure back off once my eye gets in!

do give time for your eye to get in. Also make sure you are not using too much power, start around x30 magnification to get going then up the power a bit at a time.

You MAY NEED TO SLIDE THE DRAW TUBE ON THE BLOCKING FILTER OUT TO REACH FOCUS. give it a try and see if the edge comes into focus. I have not use the lunt50 so don't know if you need to pull it out to focus??

use the proms around the edge to get the focus to the right position. Make a note of where the focuser is physically ( an inch out for example ) then next time when setting up put the focuser to this position. Then only a fine tweak is needed.

hope you get to try again later.

Alan

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johninderby

johninderby

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Disapointing when it doesn't perform right away but as mentioned will have to get used to the PT. Clear skies and good seeing aren't necessarily the same thing as we all know.

With the Feather Touch it gives a good sharp focus on the edge of the disk.about mid travel of the drawtube. Going to use the LX eypieces and the zoom for now until I get a feel for the best magnification before buying any more eyepieces.

              John

 

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johninderby

johninderby

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Getting utterly fed up of this scope now. No matter how it's adjusted can't see even the slightest trace of a prom and virtually no surface detail.  Supposed to be sunny in the morning so will give it another try but got the feeling the etalon is the problem. Perhaps the etalon has shifted during shipping? This is the fourth HA scope I've had and none of them has been anywhere near this bad.

Well will see how it goes tomorrow but have the feeling it'll soon be going back to FLO. :icon_shaking:

         John

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tooth_dr

tooth_dr

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10 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Getting utterly fed up of this scope now. No matter how it's adjusted can't see even the slightest trace of a prom and virtually no surface detail.  Supposed to be sunny in the morning so will give it another try but got the feeling the etalon is the problem. Perhaps the etalon has shifted during shipping? This is the fourth HA scope I've had and none of them has been anywhere near this bad.

Well will see how it goes tomorrow but have the feeling it'll soon be going back to FLO. :icon_shaking:

         John

I'm not sure about yours John but I have easily seen both proms and surface detail. Doesn't sound good for you. 

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jabeoo1

jabeoo1

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17 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

May not be a problem as there ain't much to see ATM.

Dave

The disc has been so bland & yep agree with you Davey-T.... there is nothing to see lately in Ha or white light.  The seeing has been appalling, and the last decent stuff I saw in Hydrogen Alpha was back in September.  The details lately have been small and very low contrast, even proms have been small.  Filaments have been weedy......is that a solar term :) 

 

Use GONG first, if thats not showing anything half spectacular then its not worth setting up.  There are times when it kicks off, for example I saw flaring once and it was seriously dynamic.  

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