DayStar Solar Scout SS60-DS 60mm H-alpha Solar Telescope

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

Reminds me I bought one of those bright red power packs once, damned if I can find it anywhere 

Dave

That's cos all astro kit is now bright red!

Olly

[johninderby]

Although my nice red power bank will be inside one of these mobile phone pouches. 😁

Easy way to clip the thing onto the tripod.

Edited May 25, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Just ordered a Bresser (Lunt) polarising filter as I found the image too bright and after googling the subject find a single polarising filter is recommended with the Quark to bring out the detail. 

With a 25mm plossl the whole disc fitted in the fov. Also tried a zoom but only usable at it’s lowest mag. Have a Televue 25mm plossl coming in a few days. Found the focusing was very smooth. The whole front end of the scope rotates when focusing. Tried a Baader helical eyepiece focuser but caused a real problem with vignetting. Could only see about a third of the suns’s disc so moving the eyepiece away from the diagonal isn’t a good idea. BTW found the fine focusing with the Baader eyepiece focuser wasn’t much of an improvement if any.

The scope will be used on the photo tripod setup for visual as it will be really convieient. The geared head handles 7.5kg so very stable with the little Quark. 🙂

Edited May 26, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Power tank and case arrived today.

The Floureon 12,000mah power tank will keep the Quark going for quite a while. The “Tactical Waterproof Mobile Bag Military Phone Holder” ,as the manufacturer calls it, has loads of straps and a hook to attach it to just about anything. Will replace the usb cable with a coiled one to keep it neater.

[Ags]

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Tactical Waterproof Mobile Bag Military Phone Holder

😀

The sun doesn't stand a chance!

Edited May 26, 2019 by Ags

[johninderby]

1 minute ago, Ags said:

😀

It’s a brilliant little bit of kit. Shame about the name. 😁

[johninderby]

Didn’t really care for the tiny solar finder that came with the scope. Yes it works but could be better. Having recently bought a Svbony solar finder for another scope thought it would be much better if it could be fitted.

Turned out to be an easy straight forward job. Found an Orion finder shoe was a perfect fit on the scope and even used the same mounting screws as the original finder. 

Edited May 27, 2019 by johninderby

[Greymouser]

23 hours ago, johninderby said:

It’s a brilliant little bit of kit. Shame about the name.

Could you put up a link for the pouch please? Also what dimensions is it?

Ta.

[johninderby]

11 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Could you put up a link for the pouch please? Also what dimensions is it?

Ta.

Here ypu go.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07KM9XF19/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Measurements are 10cm wide by 16cm high by 3cm thick. Seems quite well made.

[johninderby]

Coiled USB cable arrived from Amazon. Much neater than the old cable with no tying up out of the way needed. Well except for the velcro strap stopping the cable from pulling on the plug. Thin cable but rated for 2.4a and the Quark only takes 1.5a.

Not much chance to look at the sun today. Black clouds and the rumble of thunder  at the moment. 🙁

Edited May 27, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

A bright light apeared in the sky late this aft. 😁

Anyway was able to test the SvBony solar finder. Soooo much better than the tiny finder Daystar provides and alignment was spot on. With the stock finder it took a bit of hunting around to get the sun showing on the finder and even then had to hunt around a bit more to find the sun. With the bigger disc of the Svbony just looking at the shadow on the ground got me close enough to have the sun showing on the disc and centerring the bright spot put the sun dead centre in the fov.  

So if you get this scope toss the provided finder and get the SvBony. 

Also had a chance to try the new Televue 25mm plossl. Big improvement over the other eyepieces I had tried. Sun is still too bright but should have the polarising filter tomorrow. As it was detail in the centre was washed out with surface detail around the edges and hints of tiny proms. 

A bit quiet for testing a new scope really 🙂. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

After some hunting around managed to find a suitable flight case.👍🏻

Now the Quark has a home, 😁

[Littleguy80]

31 minutes ago, johninderby said:

After some hunting around managed to find a suitable flight case.👍🏻

Now the Quark has a home, 😁

Looks great. My wife makes fun of me for the joy I take in removing foam blocks to neatly fit new eyepieces into the case. 

[johninderby]

Plucking foam can be very theraputic. Bit like popping buuble wrap in a way. 😁

[geordie85]

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

After some hunting around managed to find a suitable flight case.👍🏻

Now the Quark has a home, 😁

Where did you get the case from? 

[johninderby]

8 minutes ago, geordie85 said:

Where did you get the case from? 

From this place. They do sell on Amazon but cheaper to buy direct and  DPD.is used.

https://www.rc-log.co.uk/aluminium-flight-case-550x220x175mm.html

Comes woth solid foam so you have to buy the optional cubed foam but it’s cheap enough.

https://www.rc-log.co.uk/foam-block-for-en-ac-fg-c401-530-200-100.html

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by johninderby

[paulastro]

18 minutes ago, johninderby said:

From this place. They do sell on Amazon but cheaper to buy direct and  DPD.is used.

https://www.rc-log.co.uk/aluminium-flight-case-550x220x175mm.html

Comes woth solid foam so you have to buy the optional cubed foam but it’s cheap enough.

https://www.rc-log.co.uk/foam-block-for-en-ac-fg-c401-530-200-100.html

 

John.  These cases seem great value, and would be useful for many small refractors and other scopes.  Perhaps it would be useful if you started another thread on one of the forums to alert other people to their availability?

[johninderby]

Perhaps in the DIY Astronomer section? 🤔

[paulastro]

Possibly John, though I never look at his section as I'm not very practical and would never see it there.  Perhaps another post under Equipment Reviews, perhaps called something like 'Aluminium Cases for Small Telescopes' or something along these lines?

[johninderby]

Yes think reviews is a better section I think. 👍🏻

Edited May 30, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Skywatcher Solarquest mount landed this aft. 👍🏻

Will not be using the stock tripod but my heavy duty Manfrotto geared tripod. Nice and solid and the geared central colum is really convoenient for small height adjustments.

Fitted a Starwave dovetail saddle by simply bolting a short dovetail bar to it. Turned the stock saddle upside down to put the clamping knob on the bottom and also replaced the knob with a bolt. Looks nice and tidy I think and no bother with drilling mounting holes in the saddle that I allready had.

Now just waiting for the sun to put in an appearance which should happen later this aft. 🙏🏼

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by johninderby

[JeremyS]

Looks very nice John.

58 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Fitted a Starwave dovetail saddle by simply bolting a short dovetail bar to it. Turned the stock saddle upside down to put the clamping knob on the bottom and also replaced the knob with a bolt. Looks nice and tidy I think and no bother with drilling mounting holes in the saddle that I allready had.

Nice job. Does this mount also take the ADM Dovetail Adaptor that is designed for the AZ GTi?

[johninderby]

Yes the same ADM dovetail fits. I already had the Starwave saddle and short dovetail bar so as they say the price was right. Actually you could buy the Starwave saddle and short dovetail new for less than the ADM one. 

The thing that bugs me about the ADM one is the dual fit. I mean who is going to be using a Losmandy plate on this mount? ADM do a plain vixen version but doesn’t seem to be stocked anywhere in the UK and it’s very short as well. 

EDIT

So much for the forecast of clear skies late this aft and evening. Wall to wall thick cloud now. 🤬

Edited June 1, 2019 by johninderby

[johninderby]

Some sunshine at last this morning. 🙂

The Solarquest mount works as advertised. Just turn it on and it slews to the sun. Had to centre the sun the first time as expected but after turning it off and moving across the garden when turned on again did centre the sun OK.Is really solid on the Manfrotto tripod. Vibrations are damped out instantly.

The single polarising filter does help bring out detail although now need to tune in the filter to get the best results. 

Clouds moving in now so will have to pack up for a while but at least finally got to check out the mount. 😁

Edited June 3, 2019 by johninderby

[steveex2003]

Any further along with playing? I am sorely tempted by this scope, this or a secondhand Lunt 50 perhaps. The pricing seems superb. The main caveat, for want of a better term, appears to be but a waiting time for temps. All else seems comparitively positive? I would also like to read of a comparison to a Quark equipped similar size apperture, as it seems you are almost getting a Quark for half price with this scope?