Getting Back In To Solar H Alpha - First Light!

[David Smith]

Ok, decision made. I've been pondering my return to H alpha solar since selling my PST almost a year ago. I have read lots, asked lots of questions and if there is one thing I have learnt it is there is no ideal solution!

1. The Lunt 60 DS would be close to ideal (for me) but £5k is out of my price range, SS at ~£2700 is achievable but leaves me with SS only.
2. I could go external etalon on my Evostar but the Lunts are as expensive as the scopes (if not more so) and the Coronado are thought to be highly variable in quality plus Coronado / Meade customer service is not held in high regard by many!
3. I could go Solarmax scope but the same applies as for their filters above.
4. The Lunt 50 is an option, with good reviews and on offer at the moment so could get DS all in for under £2500 but it's not really an imaging scope and I fear the B600 would limit my options.
5. That leaves the Quarks which are as variable in quality as the Coronado's (if not worse) and Daystar customer service seems hit and miss at best.

Overall then each has it's pros and cons and all the possible solutions have their pitfalls so my conclusion on the most important factor in this purchase was that I need a good dealer who I knew I could rely on if I think I have made a mistake or something goes awry. That narrowed the choices to Lunt 50 or Quark really (Lunt 60 was out due to cost / SS limitation) and my thoughts went back and forth for a bit but eventually the flexibility of the Quark (can be used in different scopes, etc) broke the deadlock.

So order placed with @FLO today for

1 x Quark Combo

1x ES telenegative 2x barlow lens

1 x Baader 2" 35nm Ha filter

1 x Baader 28mm fine tuning ring

and a seperate order with the rainforest-themed multinational conglomerate for 1 of these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085RGZLBP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anything I have missed? I hope not as my wallet is now in hiding.

Lets the mayhem commence....in 10 days time

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by David Smith
Update

[Altocumulus]

Aw dang it, more clouds!

Solar panel charged as well! Sheesh even fewer days with no clouds.....

Chuckles - I'll leave others to chip in - I only have the Lunt 60SS.....Good luck Dave....

[Freddie]

It’s probably odds on that you will need a tilt adaptor as Newton rings are a strong possibility if using your ZWO ASI cams.

[David Smith]

1 hour ago, Altocumulus said:

Aw dang it, more clouds!

Solar panel charged as well! Sheesh even fewer days with no clouds.....

Chuckles - I'll leave others to chip in - I only have the Lunt 60SS.....Good luck Dave....

Yeah, sorry about that 

[David Smith]

7 minutes ago, Freddie said:

It’s probably odds on that you will need a tilt adaptor as Newton rings are a strong possibility if using your ZWO ASI cams.

Yes, having read what I have I do expect to need one of those. First up though make sure it works and do some visual. Walking before running and all that. Will give my wallet time to come out of hiding too 😁

[Debo]

David, Quark route is a good way to go but you may want one of those cheap 0.5x reducers that screw into the base of the eyepiece https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/astro-essentials-05x-1-25-focal-reducer.html

The standard quark (the combo also I think) has an integral 4.2x barlow and will give you a high magnification and a somewhat dimmer view, I find that for visual and imaging I generally use the reducer as it gives me a wider and brighter view. 

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Debo

[Davey-T]

One of these is useful David, gives you more options with a sensible thread on the end 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-adapter-for-daystar-quark-to-t2.html

Dave

[Freddie]

1 hour ago, Debo said:

David, Quark route is a good way to go but you may want one of those cheap 0.5x reducers that screw into the base of the eyepiece https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/astro-essentials-05x-1-25-focal-reducer.html

The standard quark (the combo also I think) has an integral 4.2x barlow and will give you a high magnification and a somewhat dimmer view, I find that for visual and imaging I generally use the reducer as it gives me a wider and brighter view. 

 

The combo does not have the internal Barlow.

[David Smith]

27 minutes ago, Freddie said:

The combo does not have the internal Barlow.

Exactly, so my plan is either stop-down the Evostar 120 to 60mm giving me f/16ish (but still be imaging at 1000mm focal length) or use the Barlow or a 'combo' (pun intended) of the two to get higher f ratio if needed. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by David Smith

[David Smith]

2 hours ago, Debo said:

David, Quark route is a good way to go but you may want one of those cheap 0.5x reducers that screw into the base of the eyepiece https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/astro-essentials-05x-1-25-focal-reducer.html

The standard quark (the combo also I think) has an integral 4.2x barlow and will give you a high magnification and a somewhat dimmer view, I find that for visual and imaging I generally use the reducer as it gives me a wider and brighter view. 

 

As per Freddie's comment above, the combo does not have the barlow built-in, hence including a barlow in my order. Otherwise, good suggestion  I'm hoping stopping-down the aperture will mean I can avoid the use of the barlow but if not then the 2x should be more manageable than the 4.2x of the standard Quark. We shall see!

Edited May 28, 2020 by David Smith

[David Smith]

1 hour ago, Davey-T said:

One of these is useful David, gives you more options with a sensible thread on the end 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-adapter-for-daystar-quark-to-t2.html

Dave

Good idea Dave, Thanks

[David Smith]

Well @FLO came up trumps today with a big box of goodies.

Tipping in rain at that point so had a fiddle, put it all together and packed it all away again! Couldn't quite believe my luck when the Sun came out around 3:30 this afternoon.

Pretty windy and lots of cloud still blowing around so I went with the Bresser for a quick taster session. Not the best scope for this really at F/4.8 but with the ES3x telecentric barlow in place it did ok. Visual only for this one just to get a feel for the process and also because I could not be certain what the weather was going to do. So for clarity that's Bresser AR102xs, Baader 35nm Ha, Baader M48 extension, Skywatcher 2" dielectric diagonal, Explore Scientific 1.25" 3x barlow, Quark Combo, Revelation 1.25" single polariser and an eyepiece. Started with the Quark set to the 12 o'clock position which took about 12-13 minutes to "go green". My Revelation 20mm plossl showed a nice chunk of the solar disk and some prominences on opposing 'sides' (don't ask me where, I struggle enough with orientations on my images let alone with new kit). Played around with different setting but not sure I came to any conclusions! I could also see some surface mottling but not much more, mostly I guess because the sun is pretty quiet at the moment - typical!

What I learnt today:-

1. the USB cable I was planning to use is no good, fortunately I had a spare

2. my Skywatcher Hyperflex zoom works well

3. as does the single polariser I use for white light.

4. it's difficult to see the little led colour in the sun

5. I can see proms at pretty much all setting I tried today

6. I can see surface detail to a greater or lesser extent at those same settings.

7. solar cells on my powerpack kept it fully charged throughout an almost 2 hour session

Things to do:-

1. get a longer USB cable, hello Amazon

2. find somewhere to put the power pack, I've some velcro strips in the cupboard that should work nicely to attach it to a tripod leg or similar. Needs to be a sun-facing-surface so it can charge.

3. break out the Evostar (assuming the wind dies off at some point) although this might be a bit tricky until my ES2x barlow arrives.

Can't wait to get back out there!

 

[Davey-T]

Excellent David, weather looks to be improving as well.

Dave

[David Smith]

Just now, Davey-T said:

...... weather looks to be improving as well.

Dave

Don't say that!!

[Pete Presland]

A "belated" good to see you back Dave 🙂 

[David Smith]

Thanks Pete. Lots of sunshine all week whilst at work but of course with it being the weekend now the weather has taken a dramatic turn for the worst and the rain is bashing down out there today! Fingers crossed for some time on sol tomorrow.

[PaulB]

I thought you might be interested to know.

I  have also gone down the Quark route. I wanted to upgrade my aging PST to something better.

Over the weekend of June 20-21st I placed an order with FLO for a Quark Chromosphere a Sky Watcher ST 102mm, and a 1.25 inch Baader UV/IR filter.

They arrived on Thursday and on Friday I finally had my first views of the Sun through a 35mm Celestron Ultima ep.

 

[David Smith]

On 28/06/2020 at 16:14, PaulB said:

I thought you might be interested to know.

I  have also gone down the Quark route. I wanted to upgrade my aging PST to something better.

Over the weekend of June 20-21st I placed an order with FLO for a Quark Chromosphere a Sky Watcher ST 102mm, and a 1.25 inch Baader UV/IR filter.

They arrived on Thursday and on Friday I finally had my first views of the Sun through a 35mm Celestron Ultima ep.

 

Sorry Paul, only just seen your reply. Hope your Quark adventure is going well!

[PaulB]

Yes thank you David.

I just need the weather to cooperate.

[Ibbo!]

I recently added an "umpires hat" to my kit.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072KYGXTD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

also  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telegizmos-telescope-covers/telegizmos-solar-observing-hood.html

 

and lots of sun cream.

 

 

Hope you are enjoying the new kit.