SolarChat!

Peter Williams

Gus, direct from Pt Grey, you create an account & login to their web store, no official dealers in Australia that I know of.
Ordered Sunday night & had it on Thursday by FedEx.

Peter Williams

Definitely Gus, the ZWO are no good for narrow-band, but OK for white light, it's a shame as they are inexpensive. I ended up getting a PGR Grasshopper 3 with the Sony ICX687 sensor. No solar pics from it yet, clouds & rain since purchase.

Peter Williams

Thanks Merlin, LSI images from Steven look great. have you had similar results with the Atik 314 L+.Are there any images with the zwo 130 on this forum. Yes, here is a thread I started about my experience with a ZWO ASI130MM http://solarchat.natca.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11217&hilit=Zwo+asi...

Peter Williams

I got a Celestron AVX and it's been great, very sturdy, stable and smooth, easy to setup and operate, tracks well for hours.
I think it's a good choice for a Lunt 60 and has capacity to spare.
Maybe give it another chance and order a new one.

Peter Williams

To round out this thread, I ordered the Grasshopper 3 Mono 2.8 Mp camera (Sony ICX687 sensor) and it arrived last week. Of course you will realise that it has been cloudy and/or raining ever since then :-) I got the camera working on my HP Folio ultrabook and just need a C mount to 1.25" nose p...

Peter Williams

Smerral, what is the FFT plugin? Alexandra, Did you click on the link that Brian put in his message? http://www.3d4x.ch/Swift%27s-Reality/FFT-Photoshop-plugin-by-Alex-Chirokov/16,35 It takes you to the download page for the plugin and the page explains what it does. Basically, a Photoshop plugin th...

Peter Williams

Actually the ssd is better as the system and boot drive, less good as a place to record to.

Peter Williams

I was given a Skywatcher LER 20mm eyepiece with the secondhand Lunt LS60THa I bought and it is quite useful, easily fits the entire disk and proms and allows relaxed viewing. It shows good detail on the surface. Recently I tried my Pentax XW 10mm and found it fits the full disk but you need to look ...

Peter Williams

Very good, I look forward to the day I see (and if I'm lucky) photograph such a display.
Your preparation and persistence has been well repaid.

Peter Williams

Spectacular work, I like the way the nearer prominences can be seen standing up from the surface toward the viewer.

Peter Williams

Good work, I think you are making a few of us jealous :-)

Peter Williams

Great follow up and adjustments to your amazing instrument, the results certainly have improved. Very impressive.

Peter Williams

Thanks Mark & Matt I look forward to seeing one for myself & hopefully photographing one too.

Peter Williams

Very cool, is it very apparent visually when these flares occur, or do you just find them in the images?

Peter Williams

What a great assemblage of bits and pieces , I love the willingness to have a go and nerdy scienciness that goes on around here.
Great results so far.

Peter Williams

You've got a great setup and you clearly know how to work it, excellent images.

Peter Williams

That is a big filament, good pics too.
Is it likely that the filament will remain until it is rotated to the edge and becomes visible as a prominence? Or do they change too quickly?

Peter Williams

Good stuff Walter, very encouraging first results. I like the idea that only an eyepiece is required for quality Ha solar observing and imaging. How does it feel to be such a famous pioneer?

Peter Williams

:-) you're a funny man Walter, keep up the good work.

Peter Williams

How awesome, the size and speed of that eruption is just so hard to imagine. The sun is a fast and furious place.

Peter Williams

You get a good orange colour in your coloured shots.

Peter Williams

I like the huge bits of plasma falling back down to the surface, spectacular.

Peter Williams

What a dramatic start to your observing/imaging session. Good results despite the shaking :-)

Peter Williams

Wow, a great sense of 3D with these, all that detail and wonderful shapes.

Peter Williams

Thanks for that additional info Brian. So far my main interest is full disks. I took the camera back to the supplier and showed them a sample image with the problem (they all had NR). They provided a second camera as they felt it should work and not have a problem. I took it home and tried it out, i...

Peter Williams

Nifty stuff, being able to correlate your observing with the subsequent magnetic activity.

Peter Williams

The Newton Rings originate between the cover plate (on the CCD) and the CCD silicon surface. So you are saying the problem is internal to the camera, the sensor and it's own cover, hence cannot ever be really corrected. If so I should just send it back, it isn't fit for purpose and their advertisin...

Peter Williams

Thanks Robin, I'll try the higher gamma settings next time, very helpful, I'm using FireCapture too.
Thanks Brian, I read of others using flats to reduce the issue when processing.
Thanks Mark, it is a shame as it is such good value (but I guess not really if it doesn't work).

Peter Williams

Robin,
I checked the log file for the image presented
Shutter=1.896ms
Gain=65
AutoExposure=off
Gamma=34

I need to work on the camera settings and make a shield/shade for my laptop so I can better see what is happening.
Do you have any suggestions for better settings?

Peter Williams

Sometimes the sun in white light reminds me of an eggshell, it seems to have a similar texture and patterning.

Peter Williams

Again a lot of spicule detail, good job.

Peter Williams

It does seem to have become more active lately doesn't it. More spots, some flares and other activity.

Peter Williams

You made the most of a spectacular display. It was the best I've ever seen this morning.

Peter Williams

Pepe/John, I saw someone else was using an adapter to create the tilt, it looked like a lot and he had stated it was 5 degrees. To me that is a big mis-alignment and likely to introduce other problems, it's hard to see how critical focus would be maintained with such an angle in the imaging train. O...

Peter Williams

Some good details, the last one especially seems good. They look like they could do with a little more contrast to bring out the detail.

Peter Williams

Derek Klepp wrote:A good first pic I,m sure you,ll work out a way to get rid of the rings.

Thanks Derek :-) I'll be working on it as soon as the sun comes out again, it has got worse here, big winds and rain tonight.

Peter Williams

mattwastell wrote:Looks promising - lots to see in that debut!

Thanks Matt :-)

Peter Williams

What size chip was in this again please? I'd be happy with that result except the rings of course. It's a 1/2" chip, and yes it seems like a decent first effort. The sun fits neatly into the chip on my Lunt 60 t prime focus with anough room for proms. Shooting in 16 bit I get proms and surface...

Peter Williams

Thanks for that Walter. No chance to try and tilt it yet, had to go shopping and when I got home it was all clouded over :-(
Maybe tomorrow I'll have another chance.

Peter Williams

Marcello and John,
here is my first effort with the ASI130MM (see other topic via link), as predicted by John, I have Newtons rings.
http://solarchat.natca.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11217

Peter Williams

As for the 130MM I'd love to see how it goes Alan, as I got told they were no good as a camera at all..I want to know if that's a fact or an opinion..;) My first effort is here: http://solarchat.natca.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11217 I got what I assume are Newtons rings, need to work on eliminati...

Peter Williams

Ha, yes there were till all the clouds came :-) (Melbourne).

Peter Williams

As someone predicted I have an issue with Newtons rings or similar artifacts. But apart from that I think the results are no too bad, will work on eliminating the NR problem next. Lunt LS60THa PT DS and ASI130MM, shot about 15 seconds of AVI at 15 fps, Firecapture, Autostakkert processed and stacked...

Peter Williams

Lots of spicules and other details, good work on building the scope.

Peter Williams

http://www.newastro.com/book_new/camera_app.php http://starizona.com/acb/ccd/calc_pixel.aspx Put in your scope parameters and your camera parameters and hey presto. The first one is very good, it's an application you install on your PC. You can add cameras and scopes into the data file it uses in a ...

Peter Williams

If you want to do longer exposure night work you'd be better off with an equatorial mount. The Ioptron mounts are Alt-Az and will give field rotation. The mount Stephen suggested (Celestron Advanced VX) is very good, I bought one to go with my Lunt 60 and it works well and was easy to understand and...

Peter Williams

Well I'm off work for the Easter break now so if the clouds go away I can make some pictures with the ASI130MM and see if it's any good. I believe it will be for solar work. It is noisy and not suited to night time imaging but I think it will be useful for the sun.

Peter Williams

axlefoley wrote:What about a ZWO ASI120MM,,,,,,,,,would that give a full disc for a lot less money.

Alan

No it will need a 2 pane mosaic at least I think. The ZWO ASI130MM will give a full disk, I have one but it has been cloudy since it arrived so I'm unable to tell you how good/bad it is.

Peter Williams

Nice results, plenty of crisp detail.

Peter Williams

G'day from another Lunt 60 owner, I got mine secondhand and I'm very pleased with it.
I'm sure you'll enjoy yours and it will let you feel all scientific and clever :-)

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