Lacerta wedge

[wookie1965]

On the side of these wedges it says a infra red filter is recommended now if I buy one and a single polarising filter in what orientation would I need to mount these. 

IR first or Polarising first. 

Thank you for any imput. 

[johninderby]

Doesn’t matter which way round. Just screw both of them onto the bottom of the rotator. 2” filters  of course assuming it’s a 2” wedge.

Edited January 18, 2021 by johninderby

[wookie1965]

31 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Doesn’t matter which way round. Just screw both of them onto the bottom of the rotator. 2” filters  of course assuming it’s a 2” wedge.

Cheers John I have been thinking about getting another wedge and heard good things about the lacerta. 

Thinking about the lacerta it means I will have to buy 3 filters polarising, IR and a continuim so getting expensive I may just get a lunt herschel wedge and a continuum filter cheaper in the long run. 

Thank you very much John really appreciate it. 

[Rusted]

On 18/01/2021 at 19:33, wookie1965 said:

Cheers John I have been thinking about getting another wedge and heard good things about the lacerta. 

Thinking about the lacerta it means I will have to buy 3 filters polarising, IR and a continuim so getting expensive I may just get a lunt herschel wedge and a continuum filter cheaper in the long run. 

Thank you very much John really appreciate it. 

There is a limit to how many filters you can stack under the rotating eyepiece holder of the Lacerta 2" wedge.
The Lacerta has a Brewster Angle layout. Which is not as comfortable to use as a 90° wedge. No problem for imaging but not ideal visually.
I have the 2" Lacerta and a 1.25" Lunt so have experience with both.

[johninderby]

Two filters will stack fine under the rotator. If you wanted to use another filter you would have to double stack two of them in a single cell.

I’ve never found the angle to be a problem when using visually. Just a non issue for me bit others may feel differently. 

Edited January 21, 2021 by johninderby

[Neil H]

Hi I got the 2 inch Lacerta wedge after chatting to John , I have 2 x 2 inch filters fitted to the rotation ring UV/IR cut filter and single polarizing filter , I then use a continuum filter on the eyepiece 

the viewing angle I feel is nice I can sit on a chair and eyepiece is then at a comfortable angle 

[johninderby]

Just had a short observing session with the Lacerta wedge and with the sun being low down and just visable above the fence the angle of the wedge made observing a lot more comfortable as the tripod and scope were at maximum height.

Had a chance to see how adding the UV/IR cut filter worked and it did seem to make the views a little bit sharper. Finding  the Svbony 10-30 zoom is well suited to solar observing. 👍🏻

[Rusted]

The Lacerta suits winter observing where there is plenty of room for the observer.

It does NOT suit higher solar altitudes, on foolishly long telescopes, in foolishly undersized [3m/10'] observatories. 

[Louis D]

On 21/01/2021 at 06:27, Rusted said:

The Lacerta has a Brewster Angle layout. Which is not as comfortable to use as a 90° wedge. No problem for imaging but not ideal visually.
I have the 2" Lacerta and a 1.25" Lunt so have experience with both.

 

On 22/01/2021 at 01:27, Rusted said:

The Lacerta suits winter observing where there is plenty of room for the observer.

It does NOT suit higher solar altitudes, on foolishly long telescopes, in foolishly undersized [3m/10'] observatories. 

I just realized that using the Lacerta in summer at 30 degree north latitude where I live would be a nightmare of contortions to view the image.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but at solar noon on the summer solstice, the sun will be at 90 - (30 - 23) = 90 - 7 = 83 degrees elevation for me.  Given the Brewster angle of 56.6 degrees for the Lacerta wedge, this places the eyepiece at a angle of (90 - 83 - (90 - 56.6)) = 7 - 33.4 = -26.4 degrees.  That is 26 degrees below horizontal.  Am I missing something here?  The Lacerta wedge would only be useful for me for when the sun is no more than 56.6 degrees in elevation.  This eliminates viewing for quite a few hours around solar noon during the late spring to early fall months.

Is the Lacerta wedge that much better than using two linear polarizers in the Lunt to justify the contortions?

[Rusted]

The only time I might use the Lacerta visually is in the early morning.
Hopeless for binoviewing. Doesn't improve comfort by rotating the focuser.
It works fine for imaging. For visual I normally [sic] use my 90° Lunt.

[Louis D]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions.  Due to trees and buildings, I have very limited low elevation viewing options from my backyard.  I'll probably get the Lunt for visual instead.