Sun disc of December 21st

[krakatoa1883]

A very unfortunate month for solar observing and imaging, bad weather and office work kept me away from my telescopes, the Sun low in the sky is turbulent most of the time lowering image contrast and shaarpness. Moreover after careful testing I discovered to be one of the few unlucky men that got a pressure tuned LS50 with some problems of uniformity in the field of view. The scope is usable but could have been better.

Below are my images of today in poor seeing conditions and slightly hazy sky. Thanks for looking.

[ffellah]

Raf: these are good images despite the circumstances and conditions...

Happy Holidays !

Franco

[Derek Klepp]

Raf that Daystar Ca came up well.

[Montana]

Looks like a nice active region, I haven't seen the Sun for days so it is nice to know what it looks like
If you are unhappy with the scope have you spoken to Lunt? is there anyway to fix it?
Alexandra

[krakatoa1883]

Thanks to all for appreciation.

@Alexandra: some months ago I have been offered a LS60 with tilt tuning and a LS50 with FT focuser, and eventually I purchased the latter as I expected the pressure tuning be able to deliver more uniform images. In my sample, however, the sweet spot is slightly shifted toward one side of the field so that the area of best contrast is not at the very centre. Visually this is not important and even difficult to note, but with the CCD the full disc always shows one side of the Sun to be brighter and contrasted than the other. Turning the handle in or out makes the disc more uniform but the best position for uniformity doesn't correspond to the best tuning for CWL. Based on what I have read on the Internet this behavior is still within the quality bar of the product and it is not covered by warranty.

[Ibbo]

VNice images under the conditions

[eroel]

Raf;
Well done.
Wish you the best for Christmas and New Year, from N.Y.,
Eric.

[yltansg]

Hi Raf,

Nice collection. There is also some uneveness in my Lunt 50. Got used to it by now.

Alfred

[krakatoa1883]

Thanks for comments. Today AR12692 seems larger than yesterday, with 17-18 small spots (at least two of them with a small penumbra), enjoy the view if you can.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

[Carbon60]

Good images, Raf. It's so difficult this time if year in the north. Nicely done.

All the best for the season.

Stu.

[marktownley]

Nice shots! Can you try a different blocker with the 50?

[krakatoa1883]

Thanks to all.

Mark, I have only the BF of the Quark. It works fine with my Lunt with no unevennes in the images, but I don't have a separate barrel to use it without the Quark, and this prevents making FD images. I am planning to purchase a larger one from Andover together with a T-mount barrel from Edmund Optics.