First ever solar shot

[vineyard]

Hello all.  SUCCESS!  I had another quick stab before heading to work, and managed to get the sun to focus (see attached sample single shot, no processing).  Lots of thin, high clouds and I didn't try and pressure tune it, just wanted to see if I could focus.  Its not an interesting photo by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it shows focus on the disk edge?

So, to get it done I took off the 30mm EP holder that comes out of the diagonal, and threaded the ASI body straight into that.  And then started to take the diagonal nose out of the helical focuser slowly.  Got to 14mm out, and was able to get the focus (I'm sure I could have micro-focused it more but time was running).  So by my maths, I needed 16mm of inward travel when switching from the EP to the ASI.  And the helical focuser only has 10mm so that seems consistent with not being able to find focus using it alone (and in practice depending on where the EP finds focus with the helical, there may be much less than 10mm of remaining travel available).

Out of curiosity, I then swapped back from the ASI to the EP (with the EP holder).  Thinking that would add 30mm back and so I'd have to push the diagonal nose back in - I tried that to see how far I'd have to go to find focus on the EP, and there was about 4mm sticking out (vs the original 14mm).  So a net movement of 20mm (ie, around the 16-20mm range).  Now, as I write this, I realise my maths is off b/c the comparison should be to the movement of the focal plane of the EP.  Maybe I will try and sit with a towel on my head to figure that just out of curiosity (or maybe I'll pass on that!).  I'm just glad to have gotten it to focus (unless you tell me no that's not in focus! 😂)

What a palaver.  Thank you all so much for the help & feedback.  Now to just practice all the other skills for taking good solar AP 🤣.  (Part of me does wonder whether it might have been easier - albeit perhaps marginally more expensive - just to get a Quark to stick on my normal refractor, which has much more draw!).

Thank you all again - what a great community this is & you all are stars to take so much effort to help a newbie.

Cheers,

Vin

Edited November 20, 2019 by vineyard

[Nigella Bryant]

Brilliant Vin, look forward to your solar image's in the foreseeable future. Lunts are the best, but I'm biased, lol. Do try ImPPg for sharpening your stacked images and now have fun. 

[Rusted]

 

 

[Nigella Bryant]

After tweeking your image Vin it seems almost focused so only slightly off. Also next time adjust the exposure or gamma or both and play around with settings until you get it sharp. You'll get there. I've still a lot to learn to improve my image's. 

Attached is a tweek, hope you don't mind, may not be to everyone's taste but was trying to see where the focus was. 

[vineyard]

Thanks both!  That's really kind of you & both of those definitely improve the original Agreed the focus could have been sharper still & thank you re the gamma tip.  I played around a bit w exposures (I think that one was about 5000us) and haven't even gotten my head around gamma & gain etc yet, but reading up about things like that is what cloudy days are for, right

Unfortunately Immpg doesn't seem to be on Mac - I've found SiriL & already have access to Lightroom so will play with those a bit, but I suspect I may have to bite the bullet on Pixinsight if I really get into AP!

Cheers both,

Vin

[vineyard]

Hello,

I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine today to get the Lunt out again.  It was wonderful seeing the Sun, the Ha features, and some really nice prominences and filaments.  Just wow.  I could look at this stuff all day.  I grabbed a few shots - one just by putting my iPhone over the eyepiece, and the other by threading the ASI in and taking the nose out (now that I know where it should sit 😀).  I still haven't gotten the chance to sink my teeth into stacking so the two photos below are Lightroom tweaks of a single image each.  Not great by any means (but it actually helps to see the image and then realise what I could have done differently even at the time of taking them - hindsight is 20/20 but that's how you learn!).

Cheers,

Vineet

(PS - I know the photos could both be in better focus.  With the iPhone one, I just couldn't get my hand to stay rock steady long enough, and with the ASI one, trying to dial in focus on the laptop screen with the glare of the ambient light while just crouched down was eye-opening: now I understand why people use the boxes and blankets etc!)

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by vineyard
Added the PS

[Nigella Bryant]

Well done catching the sun today. 

[Davey-T]

Good stuff Vin, Sun is a bit low here and there as well by the look of the trees branches 

Dave

[vineyard]

Thank you both.  You've rumbled me Dave, I forgot to shift the photos!  The iPhone photo should be reflected in the vertical axis.  And the whole disc should be rotated about 135 deg (so that the prominence is about 1030/11 oclock) - I forgot that the way my camera screwed on to the diagonal, its "up" was actually pointing SSW so the image is also in that orientation 😂 or maybe we have really rare upside down trees in our neighbourhood 🧐

Cheers!

[Rusted]

Making great progress Vin.
Particularly considering how little sun there has been to practice on.
You can easily rotate your images in free, image handling software if orientation bothers you.

Help yourself by finding a non-slippery, black, shade cloth and wearing a black jacket, fleece, T-shirt or jumper.
Avoid anything light which can reflect back from your screen. Even black will appear light grey in direct sunlight.

A cardboard packaging, shade box can help but needs to be deep enough to provide enough shade.
You can easily make holes in the sides for the cables in a cardboard box. Or tape something together from a bigger box.
Ideally this needs a small table [or stand] and a chair so you can relax without dropping "stuff."

Don't be too self-critical of your results. Every subjective failure is valuable lesson learned.
Above all: It's supposed to be fun!   Not a competitive sport!  Well, not yet!

[vineyard]

Thanks Rusted, much appreciated.

Completely agree - I'm a big believer in learning by doing, and also I think what the Japanese call Kaizen.  The idea that there is no such thing as perfection, and all you can do is improve (and if its not an improvement then don't do it) particularly resonates.  I find it's also a great get out of jail card at home (although I think I've been rumbled on that by now as well 🤣).

Re competitiveness, I've resolved that the moment I become competitive about them is the moment I put my gear away.  One of the many things I love about them is the sense of perspective they bring...

Anyway, hope you get lots of clear sunny days this winter (I'm told that meteorological autumn is now over).

Cheers!