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Solar disks Sat + Sun with Lunt 60mm and QHY268M, and *check your replacement blue glass*


tooth_dr

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I havent had much success using the 290MM to do full solar disks via a 2 panel mosaic, so I decided to give my new 268M a go instead.  It easily gets the whole disk in at a focal length 500mm.  If I can find a way to barlow it x2 then it will still do a full disk, although currently not sure how, because it's all screwed together onto the focuser, so I cant insert a barlow.

Interestingly, the new blue glass I got from Lunt in April 2020 has corroded/become pitted already, and wouldnt clean up at all - looks like the surface is physically marked.  I was able to use the original glass - although it had fogged over, all this was completely removed with limescale cleaner.  Might be worth checking your own glass if you received new glass.  The first photo is the glass when I checked it yesterday before imaging - quite unexpected.  In the second photo below the glass on the left is the 'new' glass, and the right is the old glass cleaned up.  The surface feels rough and a bit like something is peeling off it.

 

image.thumb.png.ad485cfb14ab62a420e5187f6157907f.png

image.png.bd928a6a370f96163d6b8848aa87be5d.png

 

Anyway I think the QHY268M is a success.  I managed to get 17 FPS with the imaged cropped down, dont know whether this is good or not, but better than I'm used to.  A crop of an area yielded 99 FPS.

Lunt and QHY camera in action:

image.thumb.png.25e48ba633fe3bad6bfb3d16e533cc8a.png

 

Solar images below, all stacks in AS!3, best 25% of 2000 frames.  Single images, with proms and surface process using IMPPG, then in PS.

 

Thanks for looking

Adam

 

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14_00_56_sat030421-2.thumb.jpg.ab1663edb769853ca4512860aec151d8.jpg

13_21_15_sun040421-2.thumb.jpg.b4bf2c7416697a6e07d0bcceee63999c.jpg

 

 

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Glad to see you got a replacement.   It is  sad that Lunt does not take the 2 hours worth of time coating these things with protection.  The most basic magnetron sputtered antireflective coating would prevent this from ever happening again.

They have the capability of coating a dozen of these at one time, so its not like an issue of effort.  Infact, id say its pure lazyness!  Even a $1.00 pair of reading glasses have a nice AR coating on them.

 

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9 minutes ago, Kitsunegari said:

Glad to see you got a replacement.   It is  sad that Lunt does not take the 2 hours worth of time coating these things with protection.  The most basic magnetron sputtered antireflective coating would prevent this from ever happening again.

They have the capability of coating a dozen of these at one time, so its not like an issue of effort.  Infact, id say its pure lazyness!  Even a $1.00 pair of reading glasses have a nice AR coating on them.

 

It was good to get a replacement from Lunt. However that’s is now the replacement which has gone faulty, and within 12 months.  The nice shiny one is the original old one cleaned with household limescale remover.  

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2 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

It was good to get a replacement from Lunt. However that’s is now the replacement which has gone faulty, and within 12 months.  The nice shiny one is the original old one cleaned with household limescale remover.  

Just checked mine and it's the same. 😦 The new Lunt replacement from last year is similar to yours though not covering all of it, while the old Lunt one cleaned with limescale remover is still perfectly clear so I've put the old one back in. I'll see if the new one will respond to some cleaning.

Edit: After being dipped in some Viakal for 15 mins and rinsed off it's looking much better though a bit smeary. Optical Wonder fluid and cloth removed the smears so it's looking as good as new. Have you tried soaking yours for longer Adam, or is yours actually pitted?

Also, I forgot to say those are a very nice set of solar images you posted. 😀

Alan

Edited by symmetal
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49 minutes ago, symmetal said:

Just checked mine and it's the same. 😦 The new Lunt replacement from last year is similar to yours though not covering all of it, while the old Lunt one cleaned with limescale remover is still perfectly clear so I've put the old one back in. I'll see if the new one will respond to some cleaning.

Edit: After being dipped in some Viakal for 15 mins and rinsed off it's looking much better though a bit smeary. Optical Wonder fluid and cloth removed the smears so it's looking as good as new. Have you tried soaking yours for longer Adam, or is yours actually pitted?

Alan

oh man would i love to get some optical wonder fluid here in the united states.  It is illegal to import it here!!

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39 minutes ago, Kitsunegari said:

oh man would i love to get some optical wonder fluid here in the united states.  It is illegal to import it here!!

Oh! That's a pity. In this case though any lens cleaning fluid would likely be just as good. 🙂

Alan

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