Quick white light with new wedge

[kerrylewis]

A quick look yesterday with my brand new Lunt wedge on the Tak. Lovely detail of the big sunspot group and its smaller companion group. Previously I always used a glass filter and my 66mm WO refractor which I've now sold. The view with the wedge and the Tak is in a different  league - stunning with much more clearly defined detail within a lovely white disc (the previous set up gave an orange/yellow appearance). I just revelled in all the subtleties of the spots and their surroundings. I'm not sure how much of this improvement is down to the wedge and how much to the Tak and greater aperture, or I suspect due to the a combination, but I'm delighted with the  result and can't wait to try it again. I'm glad that I went for the wedge approach as opposed to a filter. 

[Davey-T]

Sounds good Kerry and nice of the Sun to provide a super AR for you after a quiet period, have fun.

Dave

[Stu]

You can't beat a wedge in a decent aperture frac for white light, the detail is stunning when the seeing is steady and you can up the mag.

[kerrylewis]

4 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Sounds good Kerry and nice of the Sun to provide a super AR for you after a quiet period, have fun.

Dave

Yes Dave - I've been thinking of getting one for a while and this current AR prompted me to get moving so I didn't miss it. 

You are right Stu - I read lots of threads on the forum re wedges vs filters and could see that the wedge was the one to go for. . The improvement is amazing

Kerry 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

A wedge certainly has an edge over filtering, but going from 66mm to 100mm aperture is probably more important (especially if those extra mm come in Tak quality)

[Merlin]

A problem I find with the APM wedge is getting the right filtering density: a ND3 is too bright and a ND5 is too dark! The problem is further compounded when adding the  BAADER Soar Continuum Filter in the optical train.

Years ago, I used a PRINZ 60mm refractor with two large KOKIN rotatable polaroid filters fitted over the front and a wedge at the rear end with a photographic green filter inserted in it. I had very sharp views of sunspots with the arrangement. I could fine tune the polaroids to the right density.

 I didn't know at the time that polaroid doesn't block the Infra Red!

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, Merlin said:

ND3 is too bright and a ND5 is too dark!

I must admit that the grass often looks a very strange colour after looking at the sun through a continuum for a while! Perhaps I do need a polariser filter in place to fine tune it.

[spaceboy]

In my eye's at least I feel a polarizer adds to the detail in the view. I cant use the SC by itself (with fixed ND3) and find it far too bright to comfortable pick out finer details. I went as far as trying a double stack SC but despite dimming the view (only slightly I might add) it never improved on an SC and polarizer combination. I will note though at SGLX I did take a look through a scope that used a contrast booster instead of SC and felt it improved the definition of faculae more so than an SC does. I have since then been keeping an eye out for a used CB filter to see if it would bring anything if used in conjunction with a SC filter. Again whether this would dim the view enough to comfortable see any improvement in details would remain to be seen.

[Stu]

7 minutes ago, spaceboy said:

In my eye's at least I feel a polarizer adds to the detail in the view. I cant use the SC by itself (with fixed ND3) and find it far too bright to comfortable pick out finer details. I went as far as trying a double stack SC but despite dimming the view (only slightly I might add) it never improved on an SC and polarizer combination. I will note though at SGLX I did take a look through a scope that used a contrast booster instead of SC and felt it improved the definition of faculae more so than an SC does. I have since then been keeping an eye out for a used CB filter to see if it would bring anything if used in conjunction with a SC filter. Again whether this would dim the view enough to comfortable see any improvement in details would remain to be seen.

I think at high power and with binoviewers the brightness is useable. Will try a polariser next time though.

[Paul73]

I'd go for the ND3 + a Polerizing filter (you change the orientation of the two halves of the Polerizing filter). It is infinitely adjustable and safe with The ND in place.

Paul

 

[Paul73]

@Stu you'll only need 1/2 of the polorizer on your PST mod. It works well on mine for bringing out more surface detail. White light will need both parts.

Paul

[kerrylewis]

Interesting discussion on using filters with the wedge. I've only had  quick session so far due to other commitments but I do have a polarising filter and a contrast booster and intend to try them next time. I did find that the image was occasionally very bright but there was a lot of thin cloud around so I rarely got a clear completely unclouded view. 

Looking forward to more observing and experimentation soon. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Kerry when I had my 4" APO and Lunt HW I always felt that the view with binoviewers + continuum filter provide an almost perfect view. The binoviewers seemed to remove some of the brightness making the image very pleasant. By the way well done on the purchase.

[John]

Nice report Kerry

I've found the solar views with my Tak and Lunt 1.25" HW really nice. I use the single polarizer on the bottom of the eyepiece and have not tried a continum filter as yet.

The HW is a clear step up over the baader film filter that I used to use even to my none-to-experienced solar observing eye.

[garryblueboy]

Hi Kerry Can't wait to try my wedge also on the Tak and my newly acquired Lunt 75LS filter