Solar Details Ha: Thursday 20th April 2023

[TakMan]

Nearly a year since the last outing with the solar gear...

Basler '174' > Quark Chromo > TEC140 > Baader D-ERF 

Ran the TEC140 at the full 140mm f/7 and with the Quark's 4.3x internal telecentric, that presents about f/30 at the etalon

Captured in Basler's own Pylon software on Mac. Then AS!2 (can't get v3 to work) / ImPPG (both running in WINE) - AS!2 is very slow and often crashes... or something.... so it's taken ages to get through all the data sets! Then into good old Photoshop.

I'm now at the point of purchasing a second hand Windows 11 / Intel i9 gaming laptop so that I can try Firecapture for acquisition and then do all the pre-processing on the latest versions of AS!3 and ImPPG before moving back to the Mac and Photoshop.... I would hope that will be a lot less painful to sort than it is at the moment! It may also come in handy for PixInsight and Russell's new XT plugins that I'd like to utilise for the deep sky stuff.... If anyone has any opinion on laptop PC requirements (as I've only ever been Mac, feel free to offer advice - AMD / Intel, Ram specs, etc). Currently looking at an Intel based i9-12900HK / 32GB DDR5 Ram / RTX 3080 /2TB SSD /17" 4K 120Hz screen. Will probably add an extra 2TB SSD and upgrade to 64GB Ram. Does that sound OK..?

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Anyway, that 'big prom' that lifted off after I'd packed up - got further than Elon's anyway!

300 frames from 3000 - taken at 3.42 BST

Do you not think it looks like some large 'raptor' with its tail in the air walking away on two legs - it's beaky head poking out to the left to look at a sibling...? Perhaps I've just been looking at it too long!

HELP!
Spent the day adding extra flocking (I'd already done some) to every internal surface I can think of to see if I can subdue what I believe is that internal reflection (that bright arch above the prom). The worst it gets is imaging in this area. It does't move when I rotate the Quark...? If anyone can shed some light on where the issue may be, please drop a reply here! Do you think it is between the camera and Quark, or in the 2" extension tubes between the focuser and Quark...? 

 

More to post later...!

Damian

 

For ref, the closest (by UT/GMT time) GONG image.

Edited April 23, 2023 by TakMan

[Sunshine]

WOW that is phenomenal, the detail in that flare is gorgeous!

[TakMan]

Thank you - pretty lucky as I only had a short window to try!

[Alan White]

Great image, Thanks for sharing.
 chuckled at the Raptor visualisation, juts how my mind works too.

[Mr Spock]

Great detail in that prom 👍It's a real beauty.