SolarChat!

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi I looked in my Astronomy crystal cabinet for 1.25" barlows. And above. 1. Clave' 2x 'long' barlow. CV has a graph of barlow performance and the old 4X long 2" Barlow was flat until the far blue. 2. A 2" metal body long Chinese barlow Mark pointed out for us to buy. 3. A 2.5x Glassp...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi After looking at a post by Pupak I wondered if I should use an ordinary barlow and then a telecentric to reach 6x in my case. Any difference between: 2x Barlow and 3x Telecentric 3x Telecentric and 2x Barlow 3x Telecentric and 2x Telecentric If I start using my Mak 180 as well I expect a 2x Telec...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi I have a 2" 2x ES and 1.25" 2x ES, with two doublets in each. The fronts are black but have no lettering. The 2x and 3x black rings you show look like they come off a normal barlow. In any case you could not remove the front doublet from a telecentric barlow and just screw it on to a co...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi On my 90mm F6.7 I use an internal ERF stack. And done extensive temperature and safety reviews. I would do a better job than Daystar suggest to lengthen the life of the blocking filter and keep it cool and on band. I use a T2 Baader prism. With some Blue Lightning T2 pass-through to 1.25" fi...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi I have found the whole USB plug and cable caboodle is the issue. The white USB power capable leads seem to have better contacts. Looking in with little microscope they seem to have spring brass contacts, rather than just straight rails on the black ones. I cant find the flat right angled plugs in...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Are you using a standard 4.2x Quark with 9mm blocker or one from the Combo for off axis Catadioptrics with a 20mm blocking filter and your own choice of Tele-extender Barlows? Ignore the elitist crap about only Baaders or more exotic stuff being 'truly' tele-centric. I have a 2" ES TE which ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

I have been using a PST AOK Swiss mod behind a 20mm Combo Quark for about a year now and get views, as good as the imagers on full disk images.

Or for close up an additional ES 2X TE for F40, but too dark then for the DS PST. Swings and roundabouts.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi You want to get the Combo Quark with a 20mm clear aperture to match the PST's 20mm. And the Swiss AOK mod. I advised him that he could reduce a stop in the front to be more useful for light scatter control. I spent some time messing about with PST mods. I tried a cheap Vixen 10mm F10 catadioptric...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Surprised to have some late morning / mid-day clear spells. Transparent and reasonable seeing. 90mm F6.7 TS Triplet, Internal ERFs, UV-IR, Red CCD, Baader 7nm, Baader T2 prism, VK 3x TE, Quark Chromo, DS PST at F20 or ES 2x TE for F40. 40mm Celestron. https://gong2.nso.edu/HA/hag/202404/20240402/...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi My first good day this year. Working at F40 with the 90mm and Quark Chromo. Nice little spikes from the active area. And I could also see the arch over to the right. There was a large low feature to the right which morphed from a streched Hummer to a speed boat for me. Some nice filaments across ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Despite contrails, high haze and thin scudding clouds I did get in a bit of observing today. I could see two large spray prominences and a floating 'fuzzy space station' some advanced ethereal civilisation could float around the universe in. There was a good dark sun spot on the opposite side wit...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Whilst test indoors of the Quark under power usually got to the green light state. But outside I was having issues. Also the USB power supply plug was a problem as well. I removed a USB extension. Plugged my white lead into a Samsung 2A phone power plug. And pushed a bit of thin plastic coated ca...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Thanks for that. I had a gaps btween clouds session with the 90mm Quark Chromo and PTS DS. Pretty much what I saw. Maybe slightly tighter flares between the parallel filaments. AstroRod bought me some o-rings as a present from Lidl. One fits in the 2" nose masking off the edges of the front ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Despite putting my schedule back I had a go as wanted to see the active area visually. 90mm F6.7 Internal DERF setup 3x VK TE Quark Chromosphere PST Etalon, Swiss adapters. 40mm Celestron symetric. Nive view of the active area with a forming light bridge. And scatter of bright flares. Interesting...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi I have played with PST mods up to 180mm F10 and Quark Chromosphere set ups. I have a 90mm F6.7 Triplet but a similar scope would do, if optically as good, LOMO territory. I use the Quark Chromo first, includes blocking DS with a PST body and Swiss adapters. Either after a 3x ES TE for full diskat...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

That should do as well triangulated. Looks do not matter.

The best non truss alternative is a alloy tube.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

There are only two types which will be adequately stiff:

Surrier Truss as used in professional scopes.

Or for compact and quick set up a Hexapod three pole design. See Cloudy Nights thread.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

vkx86 wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 4:51 am Lunt has one very nice truss design - I think you can get some ideas from it.
There is very cool truss design from one of the forum's members - really good one IMHO.

I am afraid this type are not very stiff or light.

Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Been struggling for some time with the poor quality micro-USB plug on the Quarks. Initially I pushed a bit of plastic credit card from the inside of the housing to tighten up the pressed unit. Sanded off a wedged front to get it pushed in. Not a very effective mod. After trying taped on right ang...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi We had a crisp sunny winter day. Some wind early on but seeing not bad. Improved during the day. 90mm F6.7 TS Triplet, 2" UV-IR, RedCCD, 1.25" Baader 7nm, T2 Prism, 3xES TE for F20, and additionally ES2x for F40, Quark Chromo, DS PST Etalon, 40mm Celestron. Nice full disk views. At F40 ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Under the stubby prom at 6.30 I can see 1 complex or two loops.

There is a loop starting above the prom, going under the prom and then looping back up like a fish hook.

There is a partial loop to the upper right of the fishhook loop.

Get observing / imaging now.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Nice captures of the proms. Nice to have good images from the east all ready to compare my visual with. For me the proms always look a bit more contrasty compared to images which tend to be a bit soft. Lots all round the disk today. Nice filament there. After using lots of PVC tape I managed to g...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Nice images.

90mm F6.7 3xES Quark Chromo DS-PST 40mm

The lower left of the double connected spots had a light bridge for me.

Generally the surface was pretty much the same.

There some nice Fila-Proms At the bottom for me. As at the top of your last limb image.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Quark Chromo coming up to temperature properly after bodge.

Nice DS view at F20 full disk.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Surely a Quark is a more appropriate rear etalon for a small telescope? And if you want to use the Lunt 50mm just use where its designed to go on the front of a telescope. With the single etalon you will only see prominences well and some surface details may improve with a polariser. Cheers. Andr...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi The bodge on the Prominence worked alright. I had to have another bodge at the Chromosphere. Changed the plug packing and with a light taping makes contact. The problem is really the poor quality of the Quark socket. The contacts are light and flimsy so they have to be adequately aligned and held...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Good news, so far, bodged up a solution which seems to work at rest on table. Cleaned the inside of the plug and socket with 3M Stabilant NN. Supposed to use quantim tunneling to improve current flow. Wrapped plug with clear sellotape. Two thicknesse on the bumpy flat side, one small bit, and the...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Spoke too soon. Chromo not staying green. The Prom runs very hot round 60-65C.

Mmm

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Mostly been using my Quark Prominence but its playing up in plug in mode. So I had the Promonence out where I have already had to tape on a right angled lead. I had a nice view of a good pair of proms. But there was some scatter off mica cleavage, or drop, damage in a sector. Was a bit surprised ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Had the Quark prom out as Chromo plug in playing up. Prom has taped on RA plug so worked.
Had a nice view of your first prom set.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

X-Class flare, Cerro Tolero just.

20231231220142Ch V01 by Andrew Huskinson, on Flickr

Happy New Year to all.

Cheers Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

I use Black3 on 180 grit grey emery paper for small pop in springy self holding cylinders.

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Why not buy one of these? https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p15631_TS-Optics-60-mm-f-6-ED-Refractor---Finder-and-Guide-Scope---extendable-for-astrophotography.html I assume that will fit in your suitcase. Use the LUNT 50mm front etalon at the front, stops it down to 50mm ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Frank Hourigan said there were 10 things limiting resolution and aperture was well down. I am lucky to be on a cliff edge and with an extended pier keeping the scope well off the nearby ground. When I was PST Mod 2ing my 180mm F10 Santel Rumak with bino-viewers I was getting good surface details ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Gong image.

20231128105322Th by Andrew Huskinson, on Flickr

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi A nice still sunny autumn day. 90mm TS Triplet F6.7, VK 3X TE, (ES 2x TE), Quark Chromo, (PST Etalon) or Micro-focusser for baffling, 40mm Celestron Symetric. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53360876212_b88a8219bd_k.jpg P1070173 Portrait by Andrew Huskinson , on Flickr Because of high haze F4...

AndiesHandyHandies

Mark, I believe that at least a 100mm for the Ha line can be used for larger scale with the same success. Other than this, the works are great. Valery Hi If I can see essentially the same details as Mark imaged with a 50mm am I at the limit of resolution or contrast I can acheive with the 3x 90mm F...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Nice images.

From a few miles north I had very similar views with the 90mmF6.7 at 3x and 6x.

Cheers, Andrew,

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi A sunny still autumn day. I had a little review of the baffling and made a few changes. 3x DS PST I had a pleasing session. On a par at least with yesterdays FD images. Good contrast on fibrils and as usual the proms. 6x DS PST Nice views of the bright flares round the spots. Looking forward to a...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi What etalon setup is it? Is DS11 one front etalon? cheers. andrew. DSII (DS2) is a combination of Quark + LS40. I use it on all telescopes. The blocking filter is at the forefront of the Quark, then the LS40 follows. This combination gives the best results. Petr Have you checked the temperature ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

What etalon setup is it? Is DS11 one front etalon?

cheers. andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

My moved collimation lens is about 80mm infront of the PST body. Cant see any issue.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi TS CF Triplet 90mm F6.6 APO Refractor https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/331990-ts-optics-photoline-90mm-f66/ This was my personal retirement present. You will only get the best possible image with a good triplet APO which has enough degrees of freedom to correct the first 5 Seidel abberations. A...

AndiesHandyHandies

I am glad you had the time to " try again " Andrew. I seem to have spent a lot of the summer working on my solar set ups. It seems my TS 90mm F6.7 Triplet is a very good telescope for solar observing. Maybe good at my location for my seeing. I took a long time to come to using the DS PST ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi I saw a vintage telescope today. Brass refractor on equatorial mount and a wooden tripod. Two dampers went from the bottom of the OTA spreading out to two lower legs of the tripod. Not top as I thought. The dampers had a smaller tube going up from the bottom with 'leafs' spread out at the top to ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Try, try and try again.

After my last observations with high haze I had a re-build of my pre-quark stack. Details later.

P1070144 Haze Killer PPV by Andrew Huskinson, on Flickr

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi

Try, try and try again.

After my last observations with high haze I had a re-build of my pre-quark stack. Details later.

P1070144 Haze Killer PPV by Andrew Huskinson, on Flickr

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

marktownley wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2023 7:04 pm I made a hargreaves strut for my 5" frac.

Was that as I thought from top of tube down to pier with friction damper?

Cheers. Andrew.

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi You have a long telescope on a small equatorial mount. 2 things which may help. One is to brace the top of space frame tube to the telescope pier with damping at the pier end. Add a Hargeaves strut. You have a rose joint at the top with a rod going to a friction damper at the bottom on the pier. ...

AndiesHandyHandies

Hi Here is Bobs diagrams. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/659614-need-advice-on-using-baader-tz-2-telecentric-system/ For the PST and similar collimated solar set ups they only use singlet lenses so by using a positive and negative of the same FL balances out the abberations I suppose, and cheape...

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