Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

this is the main message area for anything solar :)
Post Reply
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20435 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by marktownley »

We went into British summertime today, and for once the forecast was considerably better than it has been. Skies were hazy but on such a solar drought I didn't care and was just nice to get out there in the garden and get back to what I like doing.

I started off with the Ed60 scope and white light wedge, nothing to see on a blank sun but nice to try this full disk rig out.

Imagewl-full-disk-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagewl-full-disk-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Swirching to CaK the scope showed a nice disk, not much happening but nice to see none the less, I still think I get better results with my 40mm f10 scope, but this 60mm comes a close second.

Imagecak-full-disk-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagecak-full-disk-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Next, the double stacked Quark in the ED60. Visually this is a nice performer, however for imaging the double stacked lunt50 has the edge, it will be a good combination when the seeing is cr@p and want to do medium scale shots of proms.

ImageEd60-FD-BW by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageEd60-FD-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Moving to the Lunt50 single stack:

Imageha-full-disk-ss-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imageha-full-disk-ss-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

And double stacking:

Imageha-full-disk--ds-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imageha-full-disk--ds-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

I tried the ED80 with the Quark, but no real results, 60mm was the general limit of average seeing. I did try the HaT on the proms, and after dozens of exposures got this one:

Imageproms-hat by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Spicules are blurred so gives an idea of conditions, either way nice to get out and image for a change!

Hope the weather is improving for you.

Mark


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!
User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11171
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9144 times
Been thanked: 6025 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by ffellah »

A very nice series, Mark. The seeing must have been decent, as you were able to get some good detail with the HaT. The best I could get with the HAT was this, that is not even close to your result.

Franco
Attachments
111447-color.jpg
111447-color.jpg (609.95 KiB) Viewed 1605 times


User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14209
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8418 times
Been thanked: 8162 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by Carbon60 »

A good springtime session, Mark. Pity the Sun is so blank at the moment. I guess we'll just have to get used to it for a while.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
User avatar
rsfoto
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6161
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:30 pm
Location: San Luis Potosi, México
Has thanked: 9411 times
Been thanked: 5571 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by rsfoto »

Amazing images Mark

Very good Prominence shot


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20435 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by marktownley »

Thanks guys. The rest of the shots I took with the HaT were worse than the one you posted Franco, mind you I was using the native 4.3x telecentric on the Quark, I think next time I will give the HaT native 2.8x a go, it will give a wider bandpass on the etalon but for proms this might not be a bad thing and the smaller image scale should help with the seeing. The Easter break is getting closer so i'm hopeful of some clear skies at some point...


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!
User avatar
Montana
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 34563
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17672 times
Been thanked: 8790 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by Montana »

Very nice pictures Mark, especially the last one of the prom :bow :hamster: I had nice sunshine too but didn't get into the garden till the afternoon (had too many chores and dinner to cook). I would post mine if I could but I can't get Flickr to accept any of my images so I am stuck. Are you having any problems? it says that all mine don't look like an image and it refuses to upload them.
Alexandra


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20435 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by marktownley »

Thanks Alexandra, Flickr behaving for me...


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!
User avatar
eroel
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 9408
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:45 pm
Location: México D.F.
Been thanked: 4904 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by eroel »

Mark:
The good thing is that you got all your solar gear out and started to image again. :D
Hope you get good weather this weekend.
In Mexico it is a Catholic weekenf feast, so I will try to image too.
Best wishes to all of you good friends,
Eric.


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20435 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by marktownley »

Thanks Eric! I found another prom shot that came out OK. Decided to have a mess with some colour.

Imageproms2 by Mark Townley, on Flickr


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!
Derek Klepp
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 12900
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:02 am
Been thanked: 171 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by Derek Klepp »

A productive session Mark and good comparisons.Waiting for summer time to finish here and all clouds here.Have a good weekend.


User avatar
MapleRidge
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 10199
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:58 pm
Location: Cambray, ON Canada
Has thanked: 64 times
Been thanked: 4340 times
Contact:

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by MapleRidge »

Hi Mark...

Great images from this session...nice and sharp, too bad there was so little activity :bow

The prom shots came out nicely.

Brian


Brian Colville

Maple Ridge Observatory
Cambray, ON Canada

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/185395281@N08/albums

10'x15 Roll-off Roof Observatory
Takahashi EM400 Mount carrying:
C14 + Lunt 80ED
Deep Sky Work - ASI294MM Pro+EFW 7x36/Canon 60D (Ha mod), ONAG
Planetary Work - SBIG CFW10, ASI462MM

2.2m Diameter Dome
iOptron CEM70G Mount carrying:
Orion EON 130ED, f7 OTA for Day & Night Use
Ha Setup: Lunt LS80PT/LS75FHa/B1200Ha + Home Brew Lunt Double Stack/B1800Ha on the Orion OTA + Daystar Quantum
WL, G-Band & CaK Setup: Lunt Wedge & Lunt B1800CaK, Baader K-Line and Altair 2nm G-Band filter
ASI1600MM, ASI432MM, ASI294MM Pro, ASI174MM, ASI462MM
User avatar
Valery
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 4059
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:13 pm
Has thanked: 156 times
Been thanked: 893 times

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by Valery »

Hi Mark,

These quiet sun days you obviously need a double stack in the CaK and a triple stack in H-a !!!

Images are nice, but the lack of notable details require more etalons to use.


Valery


"Solar H alpha activity is the most dynamic and compelling thing you can see in a telescope, so spend accordingly." (c) Bob Yoesle.

Largest full size 185 - 356mm Dielectric Energy Rejection Filters (D-ERF) by ARIES Instruments.
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20435 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Springtime Sunshine - 25th March

Post by marktownley »

I had been thinking pf triple stacking the Ha Valery. ;)


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!
Post Reply