Calcium II K Sunday

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Montana
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Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Montana »

Sat for 3 and half hours this morning and froze to death waiting for a gap to see the Sun. Finally managed one image at 1x with the Celestron C11 and Aries ERF and Lunt CaK module. Seeing seemed OK at 1 to 1.5 all morning. I tried the 3x Barlow but couldn't get any focus at all.
If you change your focuser does that throw off your collimation? do I need to re-collimate?

I also had a dust bunny I cannot get rid off and was annoying me intensely all morning. When I turn the camera it stays in the same place always where the sun spot was. I turned the barlow and it stayed in the same place, I turned the Lunt module and it stayed in the same place. It has to be the camera but I even used lens wipe to scrub it. I hope it is not on the inside on the ZWO sensor and I have bought yet another lemon. I tried the flat field in Firecapture and that halves your frame rate so I gave up on that.

You can tell I had a bad day. I saw a nice surge prom though.

Alexandra
Sun_121237_24_03_2019_lapl4_ap4127 imp a.jpg
Sun_121237_24_03_2019_lapl4_ap4127 imp a.jpg (522.64 KiB) Viewed 1837 times


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by MalVeauX »

Lovely capture, that little prom in CaK is great!

Very best,


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Astrophil »

You came, you saw, you captured. Any day we can see the Sun is a good day.

Phil


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by ffellah »

That is a nice CaK image with a prom, Alexandra. We all have bad days, but you got some imaging done !

You always delight us with beautiful images.

Franco


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by marktownley »

Looks good considering! Changing the focuser wont affect collimation.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by MAURITS »

Nice CAK image Alexandra, it's always a challenge before we see the results.


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Maurits

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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by eroel »

Alexandra:
Well, there are bad days too.
Best wishes,
Eric.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Alexandra,

Probably the jet stream throwing things out. With that aperture it’s so reliant on superb seeing.
Sorry to hear about your various hardware and computer issues. You’ve been having a rough time with these things lately :roll:

Stu.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by krakatoa1883 »

A fine image, Alexandra, in spite of the problems you had.

I tried a couple of ZWO cameras in the recent past and sold both after a short time, no happy with them. I returned soon to a PGR.
Last edited by krakatoa1883 on Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by PDB »

Hi Alexandra,

dust bunnies on ZWO's can be very persistent... I have had to clean the AR windows many times (what gave me the best results is the Baader optical wonder sprayed on a good eyeglasses cleaning tissue. (but don't use too much, and use at your own risc) Never seen dust on the inside, but does not mean it can happen. If so I would ask a replacement.
Flat field in FC, i would only use it for direct showing images to an audience. As you found out, it has to do processing on every frame between capture and save to disc, and that takes time. Take the flat an process everything in post.
I tried the 3x Barlow but couldn't get any focus at all.
If you change your focuser does that throw off your collimation? do I need to re-collimate?
Did you put a crayford or other stylde focuse on the C11? Maybe it has effect on collimation, but focusing always gets a 2 stage operation. You have limited travel with an external focuser on an SC and if you add an optical element (barlow) or filterwheel or other extension, you can run quickly out of focus travel and you will need to readjust the primary mirror position with the original focuser knob. (This also makes you never know exactly the f/ratio; with my crayford on the C8 and camera in focus, it will be around f/11 instead of f/10)

Rgrds,

Paul


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Martin_S »

I think it's a good image Alexandra, I downloaded it and added some false colour . You should try it , you will be quite surprised at the results.

Martin


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by pedro »

Nice CaK image Alexandra

I know what you mean as far as the dust bunnies are concerned. I am always cleaning them and it is a challenge. I suspect I also have them inside the clear optical window, but not on the chip...


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys for all the encouragement. I has a bit stressed yesterday. I still have my doubts about my Lunt CaK module as I have never seen anything clear with it regardless of scope, seeing etc.

The focuser, I tried to change it for a feathertouch focuser but I was brave and took it all apart and it didn't fit so it went back. I then put the old one back on and I couldn't get the O ring to fit properly. I have no idea how the focuser works I was just wondering if it moved the primary mirror whether you have to recollimate the secondary.

Next time I will start off with WL which I know should be good before going on to CaK. I need to give Mark or Stuart my CaK module and see if they can get anything clear out of it :)

I need to scrub that ZWO otherwise that is going back too. At the moment I am swamped with broken products, I wish just something would work or I will give up and go back to the PST. I must say the Hubby's patience is getting thin.

Alexandra


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by PDB »

Welcome to the club of broken, useless parts; still have a pile of those laying around, but strange enough if I throw something away (or sell, which usually does not work), I need it the following week.

If you replaced the builtin focuser with an FT alternative, that moves the mirrror for focusing. Then forget what I said, that only is valid is you screw on a focuser on the SC thread.

P.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by marktownley »

I ended up removing the glass plate from infront of the sensor on my blackfly camera as it has a resident dust bunny underneath it...


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Carbon60 »

I’d be happy to help out testing the Lunt module, Alexandra. We can coordinate when the skies look promising over a weekend.

Stu.


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys for the info about the dust bunny :( If I can't scrub it off the outside I may have to send it back, then I will be down to the good old trusty DMK41 again.

Stuart, that sounds like a great plan :)

I tested the collimation last night and it was still perfect, actually I made it a bit more perfect as it was so much easier to see with a faster frame rate than the broken Grasshopper. However the dust bunny was so obvious it was killing me.

Alexandra


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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Alexandra,

Sometimes things like sticky pollen grains can be really difficult to remove, even with scrubbing using a wipe. Can you take a look at the camera sensor under one of your optical microscopes to see if the errant blob is on or under the glass? I've done this in the past to try to identify the various bits of crud on mine.

Most of the time these things are just held electrostatically to the glass and I've found that a few squirts from an anti-static gun (as used for vinyl records) and a blast of clean air from a spray can gets rid of them. Others are more stubborn with sticky surfaces bonding them to the glass. In these cases I've used a piece of non-shedding cloth (I gave you some last time we met) draped over and taped to the blunt end of a pencil with a rubber eraser on the end to soften the impact on the glass, dipped into lens glass cleaner, followed up with a dry version of the same and then de-ionising/air blasting to remove any extraneous particles that might have been added during the process.

It can be hit and miss and may take several rounds to get everything off the sensor. I check the cleanliness of the sensor through the cleaning process using a regular telescope pointing towards clear sky away from the Sun, or at night towards a brightly lit wall in my home. It is a process of iteration...

Hope this helps.

Stu


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Radio meteor detector.
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Re: Calcium II K Sunday

Post by Montana »

Yet another good idea Stuart :)

Alexandra


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