My Beginner's HA Setup

[Littleguy80]

I've been enjoying white light solar observing for a couple of years now. HA observing is something that interested me but seemed quite pricey to get into. In April, a Daystar Solar Scout 60mm came up on ABS for £375 so I jumped in. Apparently 4 other people emailed about it after me so lady luck was smiling on me that day. I already had an 8Ah Tracer Battery which I use to run the dew heaters for my Dob. My existing Altair Mini-Az mount on a Three Legged Thing Billy tripod are ideal for the little HA scope. The first eyepiece I used was a 25mm TV Plossl which gave excellent views. The only thing I disliked was the long eye relief. I suspect this was more apparent due to the barlow built into the scope. From my first views, with the tuner set at the midpoint, I could see a number of proms quite easily and lots of granulation on the surface. My Baader Hyperion Zoom then became my preferred eyepiece with the 12mm setting seeming to be the maximum the scope would support before the image quality broke down. The twisting focuser the scope is ok but it definitely feels tricky to find the optimal focus point. 

At this point I want to give a shout out to @johninderby. John has unknowingly provided much of the inspiration for this setup. My TS Optics Herschel Wedge was bought from John so in many ways he started me off on my solar journey. I added a clip to support the battery on the tripod along with a coiled cable. These ideas were stolen from John's excellent review on this scope. I also purchased a Pentax XF zoom based on John's and a couple of other members recommendations. The Pentax had proved a great eyepiece for both White Light and Ha observing. It's a definite step up in contrast from the Baader zoom. With the Baader zoom, I used a single polarising filter to help improve contrast, I haven't found I needed this with the Pentax. In terms of surface detail, with some methodical adjustment of the tuning, I've gotten some really good results. It has to be said that I don't have a basis for comparison but what I can see compares well with the images on GONG. The Pentax tops out around 10-11mm before the image quality degrades. This gives a maximum magnification of around 85x, with excellent seeing this may go a little higher. On this point, I'm uncertain whether I should be expecting more magnification from a 60mm HA scope. 

Today, the case for the scope arrived, so I've had a happy morning trimming foam for it. Overall, I'm really pleased with this setup. It was a bit of an impulse buy and has added an extra dimension to my solar observing. 

[johninderby]

Glad to hear you are enjoying the new scope set up.. 👍🏻

Are you considering a SW SolarQuest mount? Expensive for a single purpose mount perhaps but so convenient. Turn it on and it locks onto the sun all by itself.

Edited June 4, 2021 by johninderby

[Littleguy80]

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Glad to hear you are enjoying the new scope set up.. 👍🏻

Are you considering a SW SolarQuest mount? Expensive for a single purpose mount perhaps but so convenient. Turn it on and it locks onto to the sun all by itself.

Thanks John.

I haven’t thought about that yet. I’ve been getting on well with the manual mount so far but maybe something to consider if one comes up secondhand for a good price. 

[Steve Clay]

6 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Glad to hear you are enjoying the new scope set up.. 👍🏻

Are you considering a SW SolarQuest mount? Expensive for a single purpose mount perhaps but so convenient. Turn it on and it locks onto to the sun all by itself.

Solarquest mount is a good investment IMHO. Enjoy the light side...

[Roy Challen]

20 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I've been enjoying white light solar observing for a couple of years now. HA observing is something that interested me but seemed quite pricey to get into. In April, a Daystar Solar Scout 60mm came up on ABS for £375 so I jumped in. Apparently 4 other people emailed about it after me so lady luck was smiling on me that day. I already had an 8Ah Tracer Battery which I use to run the dew heaters for my Dob. My existing Altair Mini-Az mount on a Three Legged Thing Billy tripod are ideal for the little HA scope. The first eyepiece I used was a 25mm TV Plossl which gave excellent views. The only thing I disliked was the long eye relief. I suspect this was more apparent due to the barlow built into the scope. From my first views, with the tuner set at the midpoint, I could see a number of proms quite easily and lots of granulation on the surface. My Baader Hyperion Zoom then became my preferred eyepiece with the 12mm setting seeming to be the maximum the scope would support before the image quality broke down. The twisting focuser the scope is ok but it definitely feels tricky to find the optimal focus point. 

At this point I want to give a shout out to @johninderby. John has unknowingly provided much of the inspiration for this setup. My TS Optics Herschel Wedge was bought from John so in many ways he started me off on my solar journey. I added a clip to support the battery on the tripod along with a coiled cable. These ideas were stolen from John's excellent review on this scope. I also purchased a Pentax XF zoom based on John's and a couple of other members recommendations. The Pentax had proved a great eyepiece for both White Light and Ha observing. It's a definite step up in contrast from the Baader zoom. With the Baader zoom, I used a single polarising filter to help improve contrast, I haven't found I needed this with the Pentax. In terms of surface detail, with some methodical adjustment of the tuning, I've gotten some really good results. It has to be said that I don't have a basis for comparison but what I can see compares well with the images on GONG. The Pentax tops out around 10-11mm before the image quality degrades. This gives a maximum magnification of around 85x, with excellent seeing this may go a little higher. On this point, I'm uncertain whether I should be expecting more magnification from a 60mm HA scope. 

Today, the case for the scope arrived, so I've had a happy morning trimming foam for it. Overall, I'm really pleased with this setup. It was a bit of an impulse buy and has added an extra dimension to my solar observing. 

 

20 hours ago, johninderby said:

Glad to hear you are enjoying the new scope set up.. 👍🏻

Are you considering a SW SolarQuest mount? Expensive for a single purpose mount perhaps but so convenient. Turn it on and it locks onto the sun all by itself.

This is my exact setup, same tripod as well. Before I bought it, I did wonder whether buying the solarquest mount would be worthwhile, given that all it can do is track the sun , but it is an excellent bit of kit - it's so simple and  it just works.

It's worth making an aperture mask, 30-35mm hole, dramatically improves contrast, although I found that floaters increased too at higher mags (fine for low mag/full disc views).

That's a great price you got it for too!

Edited June 5, 2021 by Roy Challen

[Littleguy80]

5 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

 

This is my exact setup, same tripod as well. Before I bought it, I did wonder whether buying the solarquest mount would be worthwhile, given that all it can do is track the sun , but it is an excellent bit of kit - it's so simple and  it just works.

It's worth making an aperture mask, 30-35mm hole, dramatically improves contrast, although I found that floaters increased too at higher mags (fine for low mag/full disc views).

That's a great price you got it for too!

Thanks Roy. I actually read your first light report with the SS60 the night before I bought it. That definitely helped with making the decision to buy it when it popped up on ABS. 

Interesting on the aperture mask. What did you use to make yours?

Thanks for the comments on the Solarquest too. It seems like a lot but there must be something to it with three recommendations now!

[Roy Challen]

I just used a plastic lid slightly larger than the tube diameter, painted it black and stuck it on with tape. I might get around to 3d printing one at work sometime. 

The solarquest isn't exactly cheap, and the AzGti probably does the same thing, as well as night time goto/tracking, but for me, it's the ease of operation that makes it worth it.