Hi Stu, I love the idea. Here are some of mine, technical details are in the Astrobin descriptions. Sunspot animations in white light: https://astrob.in/23205/D/rawthumb/gallery/get.jpg?insecure https://astrob.in/41790/0/rawthumb/gallery/get.jpg?insecure Flare in The Monster (spectacular loops, but ...

You need something like this: Baader C-Mount/1.25" adapter, then you can plop the camera into any telescope. FireCapture should work fine for video acquisition.

Back focus = distance from the rear of the OTA to the OTA's focal plane. Etalons, telecentrics etc. need to be inside this distance. RC has quite a lot, SCT somewhat less, and adding a focal reducer moves the focal plane in, so reduces back focus.

I would fear the back focus would be insufficient (Lunt 50 needs some ~180 mm). With an SCT it would be easier to simply attach a PST (which works at f/10).

I present my latest Hα mod, consisting of a GSO Ritchey-Chretien 8" + Aries 214 mm ERF + Lunt 50 etalon assembly. I completed it back in June, but unfortunately haven't had conditions and time for an imaging session yet (beside basic testing). I'm planning on putting it to good use next year. The mo...

Stephen, thank you for the priceless popularization and outreach work you've done.
I'm sure the Solarchatters can keep this wonderful forum running.

Hi Don, ImPPG is for post-processing still images (stacks made with e.g. AutoStakkert!3) and alignment of images for a time lapse. For stabilizing a video like this you'd have to convert it to a series of frames. It'll be easier to use PIPP . But if you meant to stack this video, just feed it direct...

Excellent result and great details.

Question: I have problems finding a program to align the single frames. I have tried Registax5 and 6 but none of them will align my images.

Try ImPPG, menu Tools/Align image sequence....

I got an e-mail from FLIR about the new polarized light sensor from Sony (implying upcoming new cameras, I guess), IMX250MZR. Found some infographics: https://thinklucid.com/tech-briefs/polarization-explained-sony-polarized-sensor/ In short, every pixel has an individual polarizer; pixels are divide...

That's a great "diamond dust", Valery!

TheSkyBurner, that's an interesting comparison indeed.

Great resolution, Stu. I love the looks of the setup too.

Thanks for verifying this, Lou. I'll check the Spinnaker out and see about adding the support to PlanetaryImager (my Chameleon3 should work with Spinnaker according to the PGR website).

That's strange, I'd think all cameras should still be supported by FlyCapture SDK. Did you try accessing the camera via the FlyCapture's application FlyCap?

Mark, could you specify you Chameleon3's model number? My CM3-U3-13S2M-CS (sensor: ICX445) doesn't show rings in any of my Hα setups (Omega Optical, Lunt 35, Lunt 50 and their mods, Barlowed or not).

I was checking arxiv.org today and if I'm not mistaken, the outflow around a sunspot's penumbra (granules spreading outward over a limited range from the penumbra), something I noticed back in 2012 in my WL animations, e.g. here: https://astrob.in/23205/D/rawthumb/gallery/get.jpg?insecure is probabl...

Cracking shots, Valery! The seeing was unfortunately unusable for me.

Thank you everyone for input. CaK imaging is a plan for the future anyway, it's Hα for me right now.

I was browsing through Omega Optical filters on Ebay and noticed this:

Optical Filter Astronomy 396.9SC0.2 Ca H filter 1.25"

(full description: link)

CaH with 2 Å bandwidth and 90% transmission for $300. Seems promising, what do you think?

Wonderful images, Alexandra. Please try an animation next time, however short! I was amazed staring at the screen and watching a near perfect solar granulation through the C11, it was the most beautiful experience of my life. I know exactly what you mean, happened to me too on those handful of occas...

Excellent results, Alexandra. I like the filter holder, what brand is it? (Or is it homemade?).

It seems to me that seeing was just fine, great images! Clearly much higher resolution on the mottles than what I get from my 90 mm.

bart1805 wrote: ↑

Wed May 02, 2018 8:06 am

is the secondary f10?

Actually, f/10 is the effective focal ratio of the primary-secondary combination (so you're good to go). E.g. in an f/15 MCT there may be an f/3 primary and an f/5 secondary.

I believe the f/10 beam from the Mak should be fine, but the real problem is having enough back-focus (~200 mm for PST). You'd need to check how far you can pull the focal plane out (plus there's the effect of changing effective f.l. when the distance of Mak's mirrors changes).

Very promising indeed, Stu! Looking forward to when you get better conditions.

I've also observed the need for an acclimation with my Lunt 50 when used in my mod (with a front D-ERF). I *think* I noticed that for some short time after pointing at the Sun I wouldn't get a detailed image, or that the etalon tuning would drift (sorry, I don't remember exactly). It's possible it w...