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FlankerOneTwo · Re: 15-07-2018 Daystar Quark very good seeing Excellent!

Excellent!

FlankerOneTwo

Thanks for the comments all!
Alexandra, great tip, I did not know that. Now I have to go back and look at everybody's posts all over again :-)

FlankerOneTwo

Had a go at putting together a 6 panel mosaic of the fading AR2713, was relieved to see it actually come together OK. Using a shorter 15 sec capture time seems to help with the softness of some features, seeing did require me to stack somewhat fewer frames - this was a 500 frame stack. JPGified for ...

FlankerOneTwo

Wow, that's pretty excellent for 80mm!

FlankerOneTwo

Wow, just beautiful!

FlankerOneTwo

Really fantastic detail! I love these high-res views, they look so...organic!

FlankerOneTwo

The first sequence had a little better conditions

: 113029_Solar_F1000_ap5567 AI PS.jpg (178.98 KiB) Viewed 1472 times

: 113029_Solar_F1000_ap5567 AI PS color.jpg (318.8 KiB) Viewed 1472 times

FlankerOneTwo

Only able to sneak a couple of quick captures as the sun was dodging in and around some clouds. I figured it was time to pack it up when the thunder started https://www.cloudynights.com//public/style_emoticons/default/storm.gif . Seeing was fair to average on the whole with some gusting winds, still...

FlankerOneTwo

Incredible images guys!

FlankerOneTwo

I'm curious about the AS!3 issue and have been wondering how it orders the frames for display if "local" quality estimation is used - since the quality is calculated at each alignment point, it would seem that the order of frames would (potentially) be different depending which alignment ...

FlankerOneTwo

I'm curious about the AS!3 issue and have been wondering how it orders the frames for display if "local" quality estimation is used - since the quality is calculated at each alignment point, it would seem that the order of frames would (potentially) be different depending which alignment p...

FlankerOneTwo

FlankerOneTwo

Fantastic!

FlankerOneTwo

Just amazing!

FlankerOneTwo

I did not notice any change in the available back focus when I changed from the stock helical focuser to the Feathertouch on the LS50. I went down this road too.

FlankerOneTwo

Unfortunately the lack of back focus is one of the limiting factors in using the LS50 for imaging, and was a big part of me moving to the LS80. I could get it to focus with the 50 by removing the B600 nosepiece and screwing the blocking filter directly to the back of the focuser with a T adapter rin...

FlankerOneTwo

Bruce Girrell wrote: ↑Sun May 20, 2018 9:53 pm What function does the telecentric lens serve?

The Quark wants a roughly f/30 light cone.

FlankerOneTwo

A flat has to be evenly illuminated across the entire frame, not just where the image is light, so out of focus flats don't work if there are portions of the solar limb and background dark space in view. Otherwise the dark areas of the flat make the program think you have crazy vignetting and it wil...

FlankerOneTwo

You might try looking in Mark Townley's thread "Review of the Solutions to Newtons Rings in Solar Imaging" https://solarchatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=21719 I found it difficult to remove the rings satisfactorily in post processing. Far better to reduce them before acquisition, I f...

FlankerOneTwo

Fantastic detail, especially those proms!

FlankerOneTwo

So sorry to hear about your husband's shoulder, I hope he recovers quickly! I very much enjoy your images - would a short pier work better for you? AstroPhysics makes them as short as 24". You might need some sort of adapter on top depending on which mount you have. They are a little spendy, bu...

FlankerOneTwo

That's going to depend very much on what type of glass you have and how many panes. Low E glass in particular will absorb at 656nm, how much just depends. Transmittance curves for Low E glazing from Viracon: http://recool.com/files/products/detail/viraconve.jpg Maybe consider fitting a board to the ...

FlankerOneTwo

From your first post it sounds like you are trying to open the avi in imPPG. As far as I can tell imPPG only works on images, not video. You should stack in AutoStakkert to produce an image (TIF or PNG or FIT) that you would then open in imPPG. There are others here with a ton more experience than I...

FlankerOneTwo

Looks great! With my weather recently, any images I took I would work as flats :-(

FlankerOneTwo

The PowerMates provide the stated magnification at the top of the eyepiece holder, I measure it at 52mm. You get less magnification closer, more further. The PowerMate has a 1.25" eyepiece holder on top, you can simply screw one on to the camera and plop it in there. I get Newton rings with pre...

FlankerOneTwo

Thanks for the comments! The extra aperture and focal length definitely make a difference! The Quark also works pretty decently, didn't have to do much other than tweak the contrast and a light touch of sharpening.

FlankerOneTwo

That's pretty amazing for a point and shoot with no scope! Do you mind my asking what equipment you used?

FlankerOneTwo

Winds died down and the haze lightened up a little, so I had a go with the Quark and an APM HerschelPrizm in the WO FLT132. The APM seems to work quite well in this scope. Clear skies all! AR2699 and a teeny filament sun_105322_zwo asi1600mm-cool_none_lapl6_ap18619 PS_small.jpg ROI on AR2699 Sun_104...

FlankerOneTwo

The listing for this item on CloudyNights was marked sold. Wish I'd had the $$$ for it!

FlankerOneTwo

Another example for Newton rings (visible running top left to bottom right) - source image

: disk barlow raw.jpg (25.01 KiB) Viewed 629 times

pseudoflat with fill

: disk barlow pseudoflat.jpg (14.81 KiB) Viewed 629 times

calibrated result - still a bit of the rings in there, might tweak the pseudoflat a bit

: disk barlow calibrated.jpg (25.1 KiB) Viewed 629 times

FlankerOneTwo

Hi all, I've been experimenting with masking off the sky background in Photoshop in order to get partial flat frames to work for full or partial disk images. Basically I create a layer mask on the partial flat, using a histogram stretched copy of the flat itself. This allows me to reveal an underlyi...

FlankerOneTwo

I haven't done anything further re: red LEDs, however I did notice that the "100W equivalent" (14W actual) Utilitech warm white (2700K) LED floodlights that I use in my house are bright enough at Ha that I can produce a flat with the bulb stuck in the end of the dewshield. The bulb is slig...

FlankerOneTwo

The bag / glass / defocus flats don't work well for full-disk images, or if the solar limb is in the frame. Works OK if the disk completely covers the sensor.

FlankerOneTwo

Hi all! Looking to build an h-alpha system on my LX200 and am looking for a Daystar Quark Combo. Please let me know if you've got one gathering dust somewhere.

Thanks!

Patrick

FlankerOneTwo

Ouch, that's quite a shipping charge!

FlankerOneTwo

Hi, Has anyone tried building an h-alpha flat box using 656nm LEDs for illumination? I'm thinking of something like these. They are quite inexpensive but I'm not sure how many of them one would need to be sufficiently bright to be usable for flats. I'm sure it would be an easy project for someone wi...

FlankerOneTwo

Looks great - glad you got things working!

-Patrick

FlankerOneTwo

Hi Alexandra, Thanks for the suggestions! I have not been using gamma, so I might fiddle with that a little bit and see if I can find a more optimal setting. In the meantime, using a layer mask on a sharpened copy and overlaying it on the unsharpened layer seems to work pretty well and is not too di...

FlankerOneTwo

Fantastic images!! Use ImPPG for sharpening and then use it to align an image sequence for an animation. I have some helpful instructions here https://solarnutcase.livejournal.com/18572.html There are many reasons why the mosaic software won't work but getting the right pictures to input is key. Al...

FlankerOneTwo

Hi all, thanks for the suggestions! I will give imagePPG and AutoStitch a go. Re: the clipping, I noticed that as well and may have a go at reprocessing the frames; I'm struggling with how to sharpen the prominences adequately without inducing blob artifacts in the glow above the surface. My strateg...

FlankerOneTwo

Seeing was surprisingly pretty good yesterday (12/12) mid-morning, so I had a go at a 6 panel mosaic and an animation. My alignment is never that good in the daytime, so I used LuSol Guide with a little 50mm guidescope on top of the LS 80 DS, works great! I'm pretty pleased with the result, but then...

FlankerOneTwo

I had one of those first, however not quite as easy to adjust when the camera (ASI1600) is mounted. I think the Daystar has more tilt as well - the 1600 needs a lot :-/

It worked fine for the QHY5III 174, though.

FlankerOneTwo

This is the one I use. Easy to adjust on the fly.

http://www.icstars.com/Store/daystar-so ... nator.html

FlankerOneTwo

Hi, Welcome to the wonderful world of Newton rings! The bands are an interference pattern produced by internal reflections, often off the camera glass. You will really only see this when imaging narrowband like Ha. I have them very pronounced with Barlows, especially with the ASI1600MM. The most com...

FlankerOneTwo

I do on occasion with the LS80, honestly spend more of my time trying to get the hang of imaging and processing. I couldn't quite reach focus straight through, but Harry Siebert makes optical correctors that will allow you to reach focus (including a 0X). A Barlow that increases outward focus requir...

FlankerOneTwo

Stephen's Facebook stream states that the winner was Judith Killeen.

-Patrick

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