First Ha observation this morning...

[pauldaviesuk]

Finally...a blue sky! I'd almost forgotten what one looked like...

It gave me the opportunity to give my shiny new PST a swift test run before heading off to work.

So, I'm outside at about 07:40, PST on a rather wobbly photo tripod (no time to set up my EQ1) and waiting for the sun to creep its way past next door's tree.

First mpressions of the instrument itself, I guess, while I wait for the sun to move. The construction seems fairly solid. The black rear box, housing the focuser and blocking filter seems a lot tougher than I'd imagined. The focussing action seems smooth. I know the internal mechanism has a poor reputation, but out of the box, it seems fine. The tuning ring on the Etalon, between the tube and the back box, has a smooth action, too. Perhaps it's a little stiff for this tripod - adjusting it causes a lot of wobble - but on a good, stable mount I'm sure it'd be fine.

OK, The sun's now cleared the Death Star.. err.. the tree, so lets have a look. The sun finder is a doddle to use. Point the 'scope roughly by sighting down the tube and you'll get some bright glare round one side of the little translucent window. Adjust the scope towards the glare and a little bright dot appears. Centre the dot in the window and the Sun will be in the field of view...simples!

I bought the PST with an SkyWatcher 8-24zoom EP from the S'n'S AstroBoot, so in that went at 24mm and there was the Sun! A big red/pink fuzzy disk. A few twists of the focus knob later and I've got a big red/pink crisp-edged featureless disk. OK, so maybe I need to tune it. So I twisted to tuning ring, and low and behold, out pops a couple of prominences down on the SW limb! Still no surface detail but progress, none the less. I'm sure the surface detail is in there waiting to be seen. I think a combination of the low, slightly hazy sun at that time of day and the less that ideal tripod jitters conspired against me this time - both easily fixable.

By now time was getting on, and my train to work was fast approaching, so I decided to pack up. Fingers X'd for a clear sunny weekend (not that the forecast looks too promising) when I can properly mount this baby

cheers

Paul

[NickH]

If you're not seeing surface today, then it's probably the bandpass is closer to 1A than 0.7A.. it could also indicate prism misalignment, but at native F10, that's a tricky one to spot/call unless it's a mile out.

Shame...had a 0.7A etalon just sitting here :-)

Low morning is the best time, but seeing could be a factor...try a variable polarising filter, that can sometimes help with surface contrast if it's a bit bright..

[pauldaviesuk]

Making progress here. I managed to catch the sun before it set after work.

I had about 20mins to play with, so enought time to set the PST up properly on my EQ1/camera tripod - far sturdier. I also chose to use a 2X barlow to observe at f20. This in, combination with the 8-24SW zoom, gave a very pleasing range. It'll be interesting to see how the barlow works out with some prime EPs, too.

With the Sun's disk that much dimmer at the longer f/ratio, I was able to start to see some detail on the disk of the Sun - not much, since the Sun has been rather un-forthcoming today - but enough to know I'm making progress and the scope's working as advertised.

The next stage will be to throrughly clean the EP and barlow - looks like the dust bunnys have been breeding like...err...rabbits, as well as to try the 'scope out with a webcam and maybe try pushing it to f/30 to see what happens .

cheers

Paul

[PeterW]

The surface detail takes time to see. Get a shield made up from some cardboard to keep the sun off your face when observing, then just keep looking at the the red disk and you should start to see some mottling and possibly some dark stripes on the disk, it'll also start to look less blood red too. Tweak the tuner too, the best setting for prominences is not necessarily the same as for the disk. You'll also note that the proms are best seen when the disk is in one place in the eyepiece.. the sweetspot!

Welcome to the world of solar observing, keep watching, you never know when something great will happen or a massive prominence will erupt.

PEterW

[NickH]

NIce one Paul...good to know!

[Solar B]

PeterWs advice is Bang-On just persevere and try as many different EP potions as possible,you may even wish to try a polarizing filter which can help with surface detail.

NB it can take the Brain a while to become completely accustomed to the HA wavelength.

Brian

[pauldaviesuk]

thanks for the advice, Brian. I bought a vbl polariser the other day, and its been cloudy since!

I completed my PST86 last weekend and had about 10mins observing before the clouds rolled in!

I'm not expecting much chance for any observations this weekend either

At least I managed some night imaging this week...

cheers

Paul