Baader Herschel Wedge + Equinox 120ED

[A McEwan]

Greetings.

I recently plucked up the courage to buy a second hand Baader Herschel Wedge off ABS. It was supplied with an ND3 filter pre-installed, and additional ND0.9, ND0.6 and Baader Solar Continuum filters - all included in the price!

It arrived last night and today was sunny! Yay!

The thing is bigger and heavier than I imagined - quite a bit larger than a standard 2" diagonal, and maybe twice the weight, or slightly less than that. Very solid feeling though, which is reassuring.

I tried it out early this morning with my C80ED. The add-on GSO focuser was able to hold the weight with no problem, and I soon had the Sun in focus. To start with I added the ND0.9 filter to the 2" to 1.25" eyepiece adapter so as to start with a dim image and then brighten it to the most comfortable level. The view was instantly sharp and clear - though a bit too dim, so I swapped the filter for the ND0.6 and got a better, brighter view.

The granulation was instantly much more obvious than I'm used to, and I could see Sunspot group 1076 very clearly, along with a new, small group nearby, with quite distinct variations in tone and shade between the umbra and penumbra. The faculae around were very noticable too!

Having a variable polariser filter to hand, I removed the ND0.6 and put the polariser on the eyepiece instead. I could then tune the brightness as I wanted by simply rotating the eyepiece in the holder. This was just great and I could get the exact brightness of view that I wanted.

Next, I added the Solar Continuum filter to the mix, and noticed that the already obvious detail was even sharpened up a tiny bit more!

Amazing.

I packed up, and took off to the observatory with my new kit and the Equinox 120ED. Naturally, the view was even better! Amazing levels of detail in the Sunspots. Using the wedge on my high quality scope with Moonlite focuser was just a sublime pleasure. Everything just came together beautifully, and increasing the magnifications on the Sunspots showed more detail than I've seen in them before using Astrosolar film filters.

The wedge seems to be a later one (I think?) as it has a kind of metal heatsink/grill combination inside the vent. Lots of tiny little holes in two overlapping metal sheets, that I assume, diffuse the light and heat coming out of the vent. Certainly, holding my hand near the vent, I saw only a soft white glow on it, not the pinpoint death-beam I was expecting. I didn't stick my finger in the vent though, just in case...!

I'm really impressed with this kit. I was kind of in two minds as to whether I'd see a noticable difference, but there was no question in the improvement in the views. It looks like my Equinox 120 is going to get a lot more between-winters use!

Ant

[lunator]

Ant sounds an interesting piece of kit.

Do you have any more close up pics

Cheers

Ian

[A McEwan]

Not yet but maybe tomorrow.

Ant

[lunator]

No worries. I was just curious

Cheers

Ian

[johninderby]

I've used a Herschel wedge for a couple of years now. It really does give the best white light solar views. I also use a variable polarizing filter and the solar continuum filter. The wedge does indeed make your typical 2" diagonal look a bit puny.

Even without the safety grill the heat output from the wedge wouldn't be dangerous. With my wedge I find it's really handy on cold days to hold my hands under the output to warm them up. You'd have hold your hand right up against the output for it too become uncomfortably hot.

John

[Solar B]

Thats a cracking set-up with the E120 n Moonlite

The Best 2" H Wedges to my knowledge are....

No 1....................................Baader

No 2...and it pains me to say....Lunt

No 3......................................AE

No 4......................................Intes

Brian

[A McEwan]

Thanks - the whole system is a real joy to use and so rewarding. Seeing the contrasting features within the Sunspot group made it seem that I'd never really seen Sunspots properly before! I know the Baaders get a lot of good press online. Think I got a bargain.

When do those ED150s come out...?!

[johninderby]

When do those ED150s come out...?!

About six months before the ED180s :D:D

John

[A McEwan]

[A McEwan]

Here's another pic of the wedge and filters. I had the 2" to 1.25" adapter already but everything else in the pic was included.

[PeterW]

I wasn't sure about the possible trouble with inward focus on my refractors so picked up an intes 1.25" wedge recently and a continuum filter. With my WO66 the views are good, looks like I will be rolling the ST120 out soon to see if I can improve on them. I must admit I was quite pleasantly surprised by the amount of detail, even though the sun was pretty 'inactive'. Nice bit of kit to use during the summer months... all I need now is a radio rig and I could observe 24/7 regardless of the weather!

Cheers

PEterW