? dust inside Quark

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Radon86
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? dust inside Quark

Post by Radon86 »

Dear Solar Chat forum,

I wonder if anyone can help ? I am getting worried. I bought a Quark chromosphere filter at an astronomy show in March 2019 in the UK, for a slight discount.

I noticed mainly:
1) loose compression ring in the eyepiece holder part (top of the Quark); as it would not really affect optical quality, and was only slight, I did not get too worried
2) some slight scratches on the lower plastic part of the Quark (I was surprised to see this in a "new " Quark
3) dust/white spots inside the lower end of the Quark - please see the photos attached.
These are not exterior dust; they cannot be blown off with air, or a lens brush.

I noticed some large dust blobs when trying to focus and when creating "flats".
Visually, there is quite good detail on the disc and in the flares, but centrally, there seemed some problems getting to see parts of the centre clearly, at the same time as the limb. I am trying to get a 0.5x focal reducer to work, and a tilt adaptor, but am struggling (lack of time and too cloudy/windy days) !!

You can see these spots clearly visually.
I took a photo with a manual macro lens on my Canon 100D, unprocessed they are:

https://www.astrobin.com/1e2lin/

Thanks for looking.

Magnus.


Solar: H-alpha": Quark Chromosphere filter; Baader white light filters
Scopes: Altair Astro Travel ED70mm (F 420mm, D=70mm);; Skywatcher 90mm (F 910mm D=90mm); GSO focuser;;Altair Astro 60mm guidescope (D=60mm,F=225mm)
Cameras: ASI120mm-S,ASI174mm
Mount: SW HEQ5 Pro, SW EQ3 Pro Synscan (SW = Skywatcher),Vixen Polarie tracker (portable setup)
Accessory: SW Auto-focuser
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Re: ? dust inside Quark

Post by marktownley »

Hi Magnus.

Just tighten up the compression ring, finger tight will be fine. Wouldn't worry about the scratches on the plastic, they aren't going to affect anything. Regards the mucky blocking filter, just take it out and clean it.

Any dust bunnies you are seeing visually are in one of 3 places; internally within the quark (bad!), on the face of the trim filter in the ep holder (blow / wipe it off), or, on the eyepiece itself (just blow / wipe it off).

Can you post any of the images you took?

Mark


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http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
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Re: ? dust inside Quark

Post by Radon86 »

Hi Mark!
Thanks for your help ! I couldn't find a way to get the images in the post, so I included an astrobin link in the earlier posting.

Anyhow, I don't know how to take the blocking filter out, as everything looks really tight in the Quark chromosphere. I did send images of the Quark to Daystarfilters.com, and they agreed to take i for cleaning and servicing under warranty.

I then tried again to clean the Quark, using air and 91% isopropyl alcohol/lens cleaning fluid and lint free cloth. After over 1 hour, I managed to get lint, and those larger particles I saw before. It seemed they were stuck to the lower surface of the Quark and did not dislodge on previous cleaning attempts.

Now, I will keep this Quark !!
Now, I will only have to :
-keep practising using my telescope and mount, so I can get multiple images for a mosaic
- processing
- upgrading my laptop to: fast processor, high capacity SSD and USb 3.0
- upgrading my camera to ZWO ASI174 or one of the higher end PGR or Chameleon cameras
- adding a motorised focuser or Feathertouch focuser
- buying a PST or Lunt60 solar telescope ??

Thanks Mark and all on this forum !

Magnus
(forum name)


Solar: H-alpha": Quark Chromosphere filter; Baader white light filters
Scopes: Altair Astro Travel ED70mm (F 420mm, D=70mm);; Skywatcher 90mm (F 910mm D=90mm); GSO focuser;;Altair Astro 60mm guidescope (D=60mm,F=225mm)
Cameras: ASI120mm-S,ASI174mm
Mount: SW HEQ5 Pro, SW EQ3 Pro Synscan (SW = Skywatcher),Vixen Polarie tracker (portable setup)
Accessory: SW Auto-focuser
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Re: ? dust inside Quark

Post by Radon86 »

Dear Mark,

Yes, i will work on my other video files which I took later on, some are .SER files, and my technique and focusing may be better. I hope they are better.
Yes, I will post my solar images soon, once I get in the right mood for going through all those files !!

Magnus


Solar: H-alpha": Quark Chromosphere filter; Baader white light filters
Scopes: Altair Astro Travel ED70mm (F 420mm, D=70mm);; Skywatcher 90mm (F 910mm D=90mm); GSO focuser;;Altair Astro 60mm guidescope (D=60mm,F=225mm)
Cameras: ASI120mm-S,ASI174mm
Mount: SW HEQ5 Pro, SW EQ3 Pro Synscan (SW = Skywatcher),Vixen Polarie tracker (portable setup)
Accessory: SW Auto-focuser
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Re: ? dust inside Quark

Post by marktownley »

Looking forward to seeing the images you get Magnus. Glad the Quark is OK.


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
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