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Herschel Wedge compared to solar film


Paz

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I currently use a mylar solar film filter for white light solar viewing with my ST120 and mc127. I'm thinking about getting a Herschel wedge at some point as I understand they are an improvement.

I understand that a 1.25in wedge is only usable with apertures up to 100mm, because it can't disperse the heat from bigger scopes, but a 2 inch version is a lot more expensive, and regardless of size a wedge is much more expensive than a film filter.

My question is, would a Herschel wedge with a 100mm refractor show better detail than a mylar film filter with a 120mm refractor, all other things being equal?... or is there any other helpful way of quantifying how much of an improvement a Herschel wedge provides?

 

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I moved from a Baader film filter to a 1.25" Lunt Hershel Wedge about 18 months ago. I too find the Wedge provides sharper and more contrasty views than the film filter. It's not a quantum leap but noticable when the seeing is steady. I use the Wedge with my 100mm, 102mm and 120mm refractors and it works very well. The heat sink gets a little warmer with the 120 but not excessively so.

 

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I always struggled to see interesting surface detail with the film - even with a Baader continuum filter. But at least that was at a time of decent sunspot activity - the film provides lovely sharp views of spots, though not at high magnification with my modest set up. I'd say you really need a wedge to make WL rewarding during solar minimum - which will be with us for a while yet as Dave says. 

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23 minutes ago, 25585 said:

What do you need to see prominences & flares etc. 

Also the surface detail like granularity, turbulence etc?

Some sort of HA equipment either a Quark or a dedicated solar scope.

Dave

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1 hour ago, 25585 said:

What do you need to see prominences & flares etc. 

Also the surface detail like granularity, turbulence etc?

If you want to see those details, you need to start with a Coronado PST or Lunt 50 (and work your way up to a Lunt 152) Richard.

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Thanks for the replies but this is getting expensive! ?

I conclude that wedges are a step up so I will start planning to get one.

My rough long term strategy is enjoy white light for a bit longer, upgrading to a wedge when I can,  and then in time get a Ha set up if I can ever get the necessary political approval!

 

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From what I understand, a 1.25” wedge is quite useable with a 120mm scope, I’ve done it myself regularly with no problems.

In my experience, there is also a small but noticeable improvement moving from a Lunt 1.25” wedge to the Baader Zeiss CoolWedge.

The differences become clear when at higher powers and with good seeing. In these situations, the detail in the granulation and active regions can really be quite staggering. Even when the disk is relatively quiet, I personally find it still quite interesting to view. I use a Binoviewer and powers up to and over x200 in a 4”’ frac. I do also think the quality of the frac has an impact on the level of detail you can see at the high powers and with good seeing.

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I use 3.8 film on my ED80, but I've just reduced the length of an ST102, by 10 mm so that I can achieve focus with my 2" Lunt wedge.

1st impressions are that the wedge gives a 'cleaner' image, but as the Sun is soo quiet, at the moment, I'm waiting for some spots before I make up my mind.

But also bare in mind, that the better viewing will always be with scopes\filters that are of 1\2 Angstrom or less, but then the wallet gits a right thumping...

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These days you won't find any difference between film and wedges. The sun has been so boring for the last two years...!

But when there's some action the wedge will show more and bettermancha.png.8a97e23d781fa106f5f4b4149cd2c243.pngvisible.jpg.fd5fbd83c65c2baebe871809f8f66a98.jpg

There's a lot to see in white light and you don't have to spend a lot of money to find out if you like watching the sun.

H alpha is more expensive and perhaps you should try before buying

 

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