Solar and video astronomy

[Stu]

52 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Could it perhaps be the thing that goes on the end where the EP goes in rather than the scope? Do they ever go wrong? Is it called the blocking filter? Can it be cleaned for example?

I think that might be possible Sara but others will have more experience than me on this. @Peter Drew may be able to help

[Davey-T]

Hi Sara, my blocking filter developed a fault, looking down the front end the blue filter went misty, returned to Bresser Europe (not USA) fixed and returned FOC in a couple of weeks.

Dave

[swag72]

2 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Hi Sara, my blocking filter developed a fault, looking down the front end the blue filter went misty, returned to Bresser Europe (not USA) fixed and returned FOC in a couple of weeks.

Dave

How did the fault affect the views? 

[Davey-T]

1 minute ago, swag72 said:

How did the fault affect the views? 

Made them blurred and uneven brightness.

Dave

[swag72]

If I look down the blocking filter..... what should / shouldn't I be seeing?

[Davey-T]

4 minutes ago, swag72 said:

If I look down the blocking filter..... what should / shouldn't I be seeing?

Dodgy picture of mine,  the glass is nearly covered in a white mist.

Dave

[swag72]

This is mine......

 

[swag72]

I've given the glass a clean..... but it's still looking misty on the inside..... like condensation..... can I get yo the underside of the glass?

 

[Davey-T]

5 minutes ago, swag72 said:

I've given the glass a clean..... but it's still looking misty on the inside..... like condensation..... can I get yo the underside of the glass?

 

That's just like mine if you contact Lunt they'll give you the info to send it to Bresser for fixing.

Dave

[Peter Drew]

Hello Sara.  I can see from the earlier posts that your Lunt performance has at last been diagnosed. As far as a video image is concerned you ideally need a monochrome camera, the Bayer matrix of a colour version doesn't cope at all well with the monochrome Ha wavelength or the dynamic range of the solar features. The on screen presentation provided by a suitable camera should easily match those shown on the GONG website.

[Zakalwe]

5 hours ago, swag72 said:

I've given the glass a clean..... but it's still looking misty on the inside..... like condensation..... can I get yo the underside of the glass?

 

The BG filter has failed. Glad it's not the Etalon that has de-contacted (expensive and difficult to fix).

Contact Rikki at Lunt and she'll arrange to send a new filter. They are easy to replace, once you get the silicon off the threads.  Some people have had success  with removing the filter and cleaning with Baader fluid. Others have reported success using a rust removal jelly. For me, I wouldn't mess about as it is being used for visual. If it was for imaging, then the worst that could happen is a cooked camera.

See this thread:

https://solarchatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23682&p=213226&hilit=Lunt+filter+rust#p213226

 

[Zakalwe]

Also see this post:

https://solarchatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12052&p=171987&hilit=Lunt+rust#p171987

[swag72]

I'm glad that I've found the culprit. As this scope hasn't even been out more than 4 times since we got it over a year ago, I'm certain that it was probably like this when we bought it but we didn't know what to look at or what the potential issues were... this would answer the reasons that the scope has always been very under-whelming and frankly pretty awful for what we expected.

I contacted Lunt this morning and I hope we can get it resolved soon and see something that is pretty cool

[Stu]

2 hours ago, swag72 said:

I'm glad that I've found the culprit. As this scope hasn't even been out more than 4 times since we got it over a year ago, I'm certain that it was probably like this when we bought it but we didn't know what to look at or what the potential issues were... this would answer the reasons that the scope has always been very under-whelming and frankly pretty awful for what we expected.

I contacted Lunt this morning and I hope we can get it resolved soon and see something that is pretty cool

Good news Sara, glad you have got to the bottom of the problem at last.

[swag72]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Good news Sara, glad you have got to the bottom of the problem at last.

It will be interesting to see if there's a difference when it's fixed.....

[Stu]

51 minutes ago, swag72 said:

It will be interesting to see if there's a difference when it's fixed.....

Well if that is the problem, and it gets fixed then there is no question you will see what it is capable of.

[Highburymark]

Sounds like you've found the culprit Sara - there was a thread last week on SGL started by Alanjgreen on this very subject - in Observing solar forum - will tell you all you need to know

[swag72]

1 hour ago, Highburymark said:

Sounds like you've found the culprit Sara - there was a thread last week on SGL started by Alanjgreen on this very subject - in Observing solar forum - will tell you all you need to know

Yes that was a timely thread... but so far I've heard nothing from Lunt..... so I may be asking more questions yet

[jam1e1]

hi Sara so i had a problem with my Lunt 50 a while back, Lunt did take a number of days in my experience to reply initially , however, they did fix my issue FoC and quickly once responded.....not ideal but give them 3-5 business days they do get back eventually.... ive since upgraded to lunt 60PT they are superb, as Stu Zakalwe says once get the views going its a great piece of kit.....similarly i find the views take a couple of minutes for eyes/brain to adjust and features start to pop out

[Zakalwe]

On 02/07/2018 at 16:30, swag72 said:

Yes that was a timely thread... but so far I've heard nothing from Lunt..... so I may be asking more questions yet

Any luck Sara?

[swag72]

6 hours ago, Zakalwe said:

Any luck Sara?

The blocking filter was sent off to Baader last week - I asked them to conduct a full service as I was concerned that any moisture / gunk / mildrew that may have gathered on the underside of the blur filter could also have lodged itself on the Ha filter on the other side of the blocking filter.... so I hope to get it back in a while looking good and giving us the sorts of views we were expecting to see, but haven't seen in over 12 months.