Finally time to start up again! (Full disk, lunt 50)

[Chris-h]

Been a long winter, but the sun is finally clearing the mountains again! Woohoo!

Seeing was pretty good today. A little rusty on the processing side, but I'm happy with it

Lunt LS50
ZWO ASI178MM (uncooled)
Best 50/1000 stacked

Edited March 19, 2022 by Chris-h

[GalaxyGael]

lovely image. Quick question on the LS50. Pressure tuned right? And you find the B400 blocking filter size OK with your ASI178?

[Chris-h]

Thank you Colm

Yes, it's pressure tuned. With just the camera, I can just about squeeze in the sun with 'normal sized' proms. With the LS50, the sun is around 3.2mm (350/110), so I don't have much room to spare. A B600 would be better, especially if your sweet spot is off-center (mine is slighty off)

Edited March 19, 2022 by Chris-h

[Pete Presland]

A fine looking disc, very nicely captured.

[Chris-h]

Thank you!

[Ags]

Is that scope double stacked? The image looks very sharp and contrasty. Feeling sorry I sold my ASI178MM now...

[Chris-h]

No, single stacked

[Ags]

Thinking of getting a Solar Scout SS60-ds. I would be ecstatic to get a result like this!

[Chris-h]

Neve used one, although I did look at buying it when it came out. In the end I decided not to, as I would lose my mind having to wait every time I tuned it   The long focal length also means a IMX294 or similar for full disk imaging.

[Highburymark]

6 hours ago, Ags said:

Thinking of getting a Solar Scout SS60-ds. I would be ecstatic to get a result like this!

Prices are going up I’m afraid. The Solar Scout (£895 in the U.K.) is now more than a Lunt 40mm at the stores I was checking today. Might be cheaper in the States, but other Daystar products have shot up in recent weeks - probably because mica’s becoming more expensive and difficult to source. Haven’t seen any Solar Scouts deliver the detail and consistency of Chris’s image above. Maybe that’s because at F/15 the scope is way too fast for the integrated Quark, which really needs to be operating at F/30 or above to get the best out of the etalon. The only way to achieve that speed is to stop down the aperture to 30mm - but then it would make more sense to buy a Lunt 40mm.
 

[Ags]

I get to try one next week, so we will see. I suspect that one of the issues with the SS60-DS is you need a big chip for a full disk, and what you do capture is likely to be oversampled.