Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

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Montana
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Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Finally some sunshine in Cheshire but it only started around 2pm this afternoon and lasted a couple of hours. The sky was not a clear blue but better than I have had since last July.

I managed to get the Celestron C11 out for an airing and that was about it. I could see the Sun through it but I couldn't see any surface features to focus. A bit of a laugh really but at least I know where focus should be. I was also a bit sad that considering it is such a large aperture I had to use so much exposure. When I put a 2x Barlow in it was so dark I could only get about 4 frames per second and without the Barlow I managed 18 frames per second. So I removed the Continuum filter and that gave me 40 per seconds, so that was a bit of a blow that the whole system is so dark. Seeing on the SSM was quite good, I started out around 1 and getting to 1.5 by the end and I didn't see a hint of granulation. Oh well, it was the first outing so I hope it gets better.
15-18.PNG
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ImageCelestron C11 by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

ImageCelestron C11 with PSTs by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

ImageCelestron C11 with PSTs by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Of course the PSTs came out and they are always a winner, you can never go wrong with these gold beauties

Image2017-10-15 14-04-17_b f colour by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Image2017-10-15 14-04-17_b by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Image2017-10-15 14-06-53_f colour by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Image2017-10-15 14-06-53_a by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Maybe this will be the last Sun till next February, I only have about 4 weeks left at most I think.
Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Derek Klepp »

Lovely Alexandra.The C11 will be very good for the planets and globular views as well.We have a wet week down here so a chance for r&r .
Cheers Derek


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by ffellah »

Hi Alexandra: you always have to start from somewhere, don't you ? I hope you have lots of fun with your new scope...

It always takes a while to figure out a scope: that is also part of the fun.

Lovely FD's and garden.....

Franco :bow


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by banjo »

hello Alexandra,
good pictures despite the conditions.
I found for myself that the ssm was very optimistic when there was a light veil stable in the sky, did you make the same observation?
Paul


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys:)

Paul, you maybe right, I now know that there was a lot of Sahara dust and smoke particles in the air high above on Sunday, this may have reduced light levels a lot and probably did make the SSM more stable. The input I noticed was very low at 0.65 and yet it had been set around 0.8-0.9 on another day. That is suspicious and also could be encouraging for the future that it could be much better!

Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by eroel »

Alexandra:
Beautiful scopes and images.
Best regards,
Eric.


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Valery »

A very nice telescope! Congratulates with it's purchase.

BTW Do you have a visual (more dense) version of solar foil? If yes, better to buy a photographic version
with less optical density.

BTW2 better to use a red filter for granulation and spots imaging. Seeing is significantly better in a red light than in a green and blue.

Wish you more sunny weather.

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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by allhoest »

You seem to have good PSTs. Very good shots.
I agree with Valery.
I even wish a ND3 or ND2.5 from Baader.

CS
Alex


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys, is there any way to calculate exposure time through the different Baader films to make sure I buy the right one? rather than buy, test, buy , test etc. I currently have the ND5 in.

Just been checking the Baader site and you can only buy ND5 or ND3.8 and the ND3.8 is only sold in A4 sheets so that puts a stop to that anyway.

Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Carbon60 »

Lovely FDs with the PSTs, Alexandra. The C11 looks impressive too. There must be ND3.8 in larger sheets somewhere....

Stu.


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by pedro »

Lovely C11 Alexandra

I got my ND3.8 Baader from astrograph (Rupert) for a C8 (identical to yours)

I still have to use it though...


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by robert »

Very interesting report Alexandra. A year ago I got a second hand C9.25 and a Baader ND3.8 filter (still available by the way). I could not get sufficient contrast on granulation to image. I tried hard and eventually gave up. The C925 is good for globular clusters! A few months ago I spotted a cheap second hand 200mm Newtonian and tried that for granulation. It performed much better than the C9.25. I don't know why but I was copying others here on the forum who talk about Solar Newtonians. I am using the ND 3.8 film. It may be the C9.25 is old and dirty but I have tried to improve it. It is well collimated. I have done a lot about that. It may be the Newtonian has less surfaces and glass. However it has revived my interest in hires granulation.
I look forward to hearing how you get on with this.
Good luck
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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by robert »

I just checked, my filter ND3.8 came from Teleskop express and is still on the website. A mounted filter, expensive but well designed.
Robert

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... 00-mm.html

PS I have been able to see granulation onscreen with the C9.25 but not get enough contrast to stack images well. It is the contrast that is better for me with the 200mm Newtonian. Still an ongoing puzzle. I hope you can shed some light on it! I have tried continuum, no extra filter and red filter. One final observation is that wind (and jetstream) and seeing make huge and unpredictable differences to my attempts at this.
Last edited by robert on Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Thanks Robert for the info, that is a worrying that the contrast is lacking. Without contrast you can't stack and I guess I am used to my TEC which has unbelievable contrast. I have the filter cell already, I just need to buy the film in a bigger sheet than A4. Baader sell the ND5 in various sizes but are only selling one option (A4) for the ND3.8. Does anyone here on the forum have spare from an old roll they bought a while ago?

Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by robert »

Sorry to be a bit negative but I am hoping you will find a way and I can copy it! (I notice Astrograph can do ND3.8 as a special order.)
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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Alexandra,

Astrosolar appears to sell rolls of 3.8 ND film, but just doesn't have any at the moment.

https://astrosolar.com/en/products/whit ... tographic/

May just be a temporary outage because of the eclipse.

Stu.


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Stu, no retailer has it in stock probably because Baader don't have it on their site. The option has been removed so it makes me wonder whether they have stopped it altogether?

Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by gabrieli »

Hi, Alexandra

I also had problems finding a source for 3.8 Baader film.

I was informed by Teleskop Service that Baader now only supplied A10 sized sheets.
So, in order to make a filter for my c9.25, I placed two A10 sheets of 3.8 film on wax paper side to side along their long dimensions and taped down the edges. Then, I cut a 2 cm wide strip of thick white cardboard long enough to fit in the filter holder and put double side tape sticky along one side.

Then, very carefully, I lined up this long strip of white cardboard, tape side down, over the seam
between the A10 sheets and dropped it and lightly pressed down along its length. At that point the two A10 sheets can be treated asa larger sheet of 3.8 film for the rest of the construction.

This method should be enough to cover an 11 inch aperture filter with very little light loss.

Lou
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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by edobosz »

Excellent Alexandra, the dark side is a lot of fun too :)
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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Ibbo »

Glad to see you got some sun


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by marktownley »

Congrats on the new scope! Nice disks too. Power your camera with your power tank, you will be able to apply gain on the camera without getting noise then you can get shorter exposures. 4fps is way too long an exposure time to be any use in hi-res.


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys :)

Mark with the 2x Barlow I only got 4 fps because I used 6000 gain (from 125) it was a joke.
Alexandra


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by marktownley »

Roberts link is your only realistic option then with modding surgery, which i'm guessing you don't want.

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... 00-mm.html

See if Rupert will let you return the ND5 filter or flog it on...


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Re: Sunday Sunshine (15th October)

Post by marktownley »

And, another way to get more light is to use a green filter instead of the continuum. I use one of these http://www.astroboot.co.uk/search.php?n ... een+filter at only £4 is a bargain!


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