Show us your set up in action during the day.

[JeremyS]

4 hours ago, Paz said:

Here is a great solar observing upgrade... a parasol with a really heavy base so I can wheel it anywhere in the garden to have some shade by my scope. It makes for a much more relaxed session, I can retreat me and my scope into the shade and I can have my scope just poking out so my head is still in the shade when observing.

Good to see the parasol has an altaz mount.
Does it have slo-mos? 🤔

[Mr Spock]

A large number of sunspots despite the high cloud. 120mm in action.

 

[Paz]

I managed to have a go at the sun this morning before the clouds built up. There's a long string of spots at the moment, a lot to look at.

[Xilman]

Can't currently show you the telescope in daytime action (next month perhaps when I return to La Palma) but I can show you the results of some daytime imaging. These two FITS headers give the exposure time (60ms) and the time of observation (14:15 local solar time).

DATE-OBS= '2024-02-16T15:31:36.00' /YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss observation, UT
EXPTIME =   6.000000000000E-02 /Exposure time in seconds

In a fit of idiocy I thought I would try to image Messier objects in the day time, starting with the brightest - M45. It is far too big to fit in the  13 arcmin FOV of the telescope but individual stars ought to be visible.The images below, taken through a Sloan i' filter to reduce sky brightness show three of them. One image clearly shows a double and consultation with catalogues identified it as HD23964AC. The the known image scale and orientation are a perfect match for the 10.4arcsec in PA 235 degrees catalogued values. The components are i' ~7.4 and ~9.4. The catalogue position permitted a crude plate solve for the other images, which is why I could identify 26 Tau at around i'=6.0.

Perhaps M35 through M38 may succumb this summer.

 

 

HD 23964AC

 

 

26  Tau

Edited July 21 by Xilman
Minor rephrasing.

[Nigella Bryant]

An unexpected solar session this morning. Forecast was cloudy but brilliant sunshine until gone 1pm. 

[Littleguy80]

It's taken a long time to build this setup but I feel very lucky to have it. Berlebach Uni 18 with Rowan AZ75. Tak FC100DF with Baader Coolwedge MkII wedge and Leica zoom. Daystar Solar Scout 60mm with Pentax XF zoom. I got the 2" adapter for the Leica zoom so I can screw the Baader VIP barlow in 2" mode directly to it when the seeing is good. 

[Nigella Bryant]

Another great solar session today with at least two M class flares. Of course I always have to be supervised, lol. 🤣 

Edited July 29 by Nigella Bryant
Pic's added

[wookie1965]

From yesterday. 

[IB20]

Going double bubble today! Had clear sun, rain drops and ominous sounding thunder already. 

[bosun21]

Out this afternoon to grab a quick solar session before having to go out. I certainly noticed the difference in resolution using my ED120 this time as opposed to my ED80. Using a Herschel wedge and 7.5nm Baader Solar Continuum filter.

 

 

[Paz]

I'm getting very good views of ar3784 this morning, I happen to be at Draycote Water, much better than observing from a housing estate.

[Swoop1]

Here is the RVO Horizon 72ED wearing most of the recent purchases from RVO.

The ASIAIR makes cable management so much easier and, despite appearances, much tidier.

This set up is V.2 after a night of problematic practice.

Loving the polar alignment routine and the auto focus facility with the new EAF.

Edited August 18 by Swoop1
Forgot the image!

[TiffsAndAstro]

Looks really good.

Also, handy for a rodeo

[garryblueboy]

My New Daytime set up Lunt 100MT 

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, garryblueboy said:

My New Daytime set up Lunt 100MT 

That’s a pretty special setup, Garry! Can’t wait to hear how it performs!

[Swoop1]

16 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Looks really good.

Also, handy for a rodeo

Took me a while to work out what you were getting at. The penny (or, more accurately, the lasso) finally dropped 🤠

[CraigT82]

Setting up Beauty and the Beast in anticipation of a cloudless night. Wife and eldest kid are away at the Paralympics so once the little ‘un is in bed I’m going to play! 

Hoping to get my first planetary image in ages and maybe a little visual with the Tak whilst I’m waiting for Saturn to appear. 

Edited August 29 by CraigT82

[Vroobel]

The same recently refreshed 102ED F/11 Planet Killer, the guider replaced with a solar finder and the ZWO ADC replaced with a Hercules WL wedge. Also, I'm better protected then last time (still have marks of sunburn). 

That's a shame, I forgot how to run the CGX under control of the ASIair, it works with NINA all the time. 🙂

 

 

Edited September 6 by Vroobel

[Vroobel]

 

It's me again. 😊

 

 

Edited September 17 by Vroobel

[bosun21]

Popped the 120ED out to grab a bit of solar this afternoon. Allowing to acclimatise for 15 minutes before fitting the wedge and filters. I may even grab an image or two depending on the activity.

 

[CraigT82]

Got all the red goodies fitted and think the cables are ok, not sure really, will need to babysit it for the first few flips! Forecast is saying I might get a couple of clear hours later to test it out but it’s not looking promising at the minute. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

9 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Got all the red goodies fitted and think the cables are ok, not sure really, will need to babysit it for the first few flips! Forecast is saying I might get a couple of clear hours later to test it out but it’s not looking promising at the minute. 

Looks very very nice. I'd be a tad concerned about dew on the battery, I'll try post a pic of my premium power shield dew repellent box later.

Once I've smashed a couple more small holes in it

[CraigT82]

3 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Looks very very nice. I'd be a tad concerned about dew on the battery, I'll try post a pic of my premium power shield dew repellent box later.

Once I've smashed a couple more small holes in it

I have my scope cover over the battery, PSU and extension lead just for a bit of protection. Hopefully it’s not flammable (but it’s from AliExpress so you just know it is! 😆)

All set up and dialled in, now shooting 120s lights on the double cluster. Stars are a bit bloated as I don’t have a UV/IR cut filter in there yet, that’s on its way from FLO. Just a testing evening really. Average star size is 2.48 (3.36”)

The adjustable Starfield flatter made it an absolute doddle to dial in the backfocus. Literally a 30 second job. 

Must say this ASIair is one nifty piece of kit! This is so much easier than the last time I tried DSO imaging during covid, with an 8” f6 newt on an old black EQ6 an a Atik 383L mono, and everything connected via an umbilical cord of cables to a laptop on a little table beside the scope. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

3 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

I have my scope cover over the battery, PSU and extension lead just for a bit of protection. Hopefully it’s not flammable (but it’s from AliExpress so you just know it is! 😆)

All set up and dialled in, now shooting 120s lights on the double cluster. Stars are a bit bloated as I don’t have a UV/IR cut filter in there yet, that’s on its way from FLO. Just a testing evening really. Average star size is 2.48 (3.36”)

The adjustable Starfield flatter made it an absolute doddle to dial in the backfocus. Literally a 30 second job. 

Must say this ASIair is one nifty piece of kit! This is so much easier than the last time I tried DSO imaging during covid, with an 8” f6 newt on an old black EQ6 an a Atik 383L mono, and everything connected via an umbilical cord of cables to a laptop on a little table beside the scope. 

Don't diss my new best friend Ali

Also that is a nice set up