19th and 21st April lots of testing

this is the main message area for anything solar :)
Post Reply
User avatar
Montana
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 34558
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17648 times
Been thanked: 8787 times

19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by Montana »

Friday (19th) dawned and looked a spectacular solar day as forecast, but I took it easy. I didn't rush out, I spent 30 minutes cleaning every lens I had and made them all sparkle. I then tidied my cupboard and felt really good after. It was then around 9am and the Sun was just about making it over the tree so I set up the TEC140 and the Solarscope DSF100 and indulged in some hydrogen alpha fun. I first took a full disc with the ASI174 and a 1.6x barlow, more detail can be seen from flickr when using the magnifying glass click.

Image2019-04-19 Sun full disc f colour by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Then went on to the 3x telecentric and saw a wonderful prominence

ImageSun_091356_19_04_2019 by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Then a look at departing AR12738

ImageSun_093211_19_04_2019_pano by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

ImageSun_093211_19_04_2019_pano f colour by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

Now on to the Celestron C11. Yesterday we did surgery to remove the giant lump of fluff off the primary mirror. We got some of the hubbies wine tubing and I tied some string to the end. We could then poke it through the central hole and use the string to bend the tubing round and steer it. Then with the air blower attached, puff and it was gone :hamster:

So, it spent the night in the greenhouse cooling and was out at 9am this morning (21st). I predicted that on day three of a high pressure we should have good seeing and I was correct. To start I tested the C11 with the Baader 3.8ND film to see if I could replicate the good seeing I had last year.

Yes, it was beautiful and the Valery was correct, the 5x Powermate gave a much clearer in focus and contrasty image than the 3x Barlow (both Televue). It was much easier to take images with the 5x than the 3x.

ImageSun_084027_21_04_2019 by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

ImageSun_084027_21_04_2019 f colour by Alexandra Hart, on Flickr

With the seeing red hot, I quickly swapped for the Aries ERF and the Lunt CaK wedge. I stopped the C11 down to 23cm. I put the 5x powermate in and noooo. I could see where the stable clear seeing was but it was impossible to get any focus at all. Contrast was great but totally blurred.

I then changed to 1x, nothing at all. Again I don't get focus and when I process, instead of dots I get streaks. I have always seen this, even with the TEC, this is why I have never felt I could do CaK. I do not see what others see with beautiful pin point dots.
Sun_094844_21_04_2019_a.jpg
Sun_094844_21_04_2019_a.jpg (1012.47 KiB) Viewed 1909 times
I then stopped down to 18cm and this improved focus a little so I tried my trusty cheap 2x Barlow and got superb contrast but again I see streaks not dots.
Sun_101415_21_04_2019_a.jpg
Sun_101415_21_04_2019_a.jpg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 1909 times
To be honest, it reminds me of a PST double stack when the optics are slightly out, what do other people think? or am I being a bad workman blaming my tools? I thought this was a good test though as I had a good idea of what the seeing was like. Ultimately I would like to test this side by side with Stuarts Lunt Wedge for an proper diagnostic. I have had my doubts ever since I went to Italy and tried this out as a direct comparison with Luca's home brew CaK. That is the only time I have ever seen a fabulous crystal clear CaK image through the TEC. If the optics are not up to scratch for a C11, what can I do about it, any suggestions?

Alexandra


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: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by Valery »

Excellent observing adventure!

And nice results.

PM sent.

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: 42269
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10242 times
Contact:

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by marktownley »

The Ha and WL are to drool over Alexandra! Very impressive indeed. There is something unusual going on with the CaK - looks astigmatic to me. There's a pair of hot mirrors at the objective end of the module, my money is they're sat squiff which is what is introducing the problems. Here's the image of the same area I took this morning at 40mm aperture, yours should be blowing it out of the water if your module wasn't introducing astigmatism...

Imagecak-close-up-bw 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!
User avatar
MalVeauX
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1858
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 7:58 pm
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 1171 times
Been thanked: 1360 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by MalVeauX »

Wow :shock:

So good!

Very best,


User avatar
Montana
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 34558
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17648 times
Been thanked: 8787 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys :)

Mark, that is exactly what I was thinking. Any ideas on how to fix it?

Alexandra


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: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by eroel »

Alexandra:
Superb granulation and super CaK and Ha shots.
Best wishes,
Eric.


User avatar
MAURITS
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 8507
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2018 4:37 pm
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 2412 times
Been thanked: 4786 times
Contact:

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by MAURITS »

Excellent shots Alexandra, so clear and sharp, congrats.


Regards,
Maurits

Vista del Cielo Observatory

www.vistadelcielo.be
User avatar
rsfoto
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6159
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:30 pm
Location: San Luis Potosi, México
Has thanked: 9401 times
Been thanked: 5559 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Alexandra,

Great images but specially the ones in White light with the great details of the rice grain.

Very well done

:bow


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14204
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8415 times
Been thanked: 8161 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by Carbon60 »

Excellent Ha and WL images, Alexandra. We’ll run the side-by-side and see what we get.

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
David_The_Bears_Fan
Almost There...
Almost There...
Posts: 632
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:45 pm
Location: Banbury, UK
Has thanked: 423 times
Been thanked: 167 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by David_The_Bears_Fan »

Great set, love the granulation :cool:


David

Kit: Skywatcher Evostar 120 on Celestron CG-4 / Bresser AR102xs / Lunt B1200 Ca-K Module / Lacerta Herschel Wedge / Daystar Combo Quark / ZWO ASI178MM & 120MC-S / QHY5-II Mono
User avatar
pedro
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 12256
Joined: Sun May 01, 2016 8:26 pm
Location: Portugal
Has thanked: 14 times
Been thanked: 6573 times
Contact:

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by pedro »

Great images Alexandra, love the HR WL. Ca-K imaging is always tricky. I could never go over a X2 Barlow with my LUNT152 Ca-K module


User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11168
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9143 times
Been thanked: 6024 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by ffellah »

A super set, Alexandra. Top granulation, two AR’s, a very nice prom, some Ca K. Great you had the time to clean your equipment and shoot each frequency without rushing. This not a luxury we have all the time. The results are there.

Franco


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42269
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10242 times
Contact:

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by marktownley »

Montana wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 5:41 pm Mark, that is exactly what I was thinking. Any ideas on how to fix it?
If memory serves the 2 hot mirrors are held in place by 3 small allen head studs from the side of the tube. One set for one of the hot mirrors, one for the other, undo the first set of three and the first hot mirror and remove it. The Aries ERF has lots of out of band blocking so you will be fine, remember normally the Lunt CaK module is designed to be used without any ERF.

My money is on the angle of dangle between the two hot mirrors being such that it is causing the astigmatism that is seen.

Does the eyepiece end of the Lunt unscrew off? You could use this with your K-line filter as a blocker potentially too as another solution that would help you getting nearer focus.


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: 34558
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:25 pm
Location: Cheshire, UK
Has thanked: 17648 times
Been thanked: 8787 times

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by Montana »

Thanks guys for all the kind words. Mark I have done some tests with Stuart today. Will post in a another post for discussion.

Alexandra


User avatar
FMEnage
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 92
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:18 pm

Re: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by FMEnage »

really great set ! Alexandra. very crisp details. thanks for sharing


-Mike
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: 19th and 21st April lots of testing

Post by MapleRidge »

Alexandra...

The Ha and WL images are superb :bow Great to see you getting great shots without having to shoot through the bedroom window ;)

As for the CaK, I'm hoping it can be fixed up easily...will see how the thread on its woes progresses.

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
Post Reply