First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

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First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

Yes the title says it all. Supposed to be lovely sunshine again today but that's two days I've had high cloud and intermittent low cloud. Anyway it's a long story so here is the first light through cloud of with the Lunt B1800 Ca-K module plus HA. I had to change scopes and use the 70mm Stellaview which I had not made an aperture mask for because when I came to fit the Lunt Ca-k module in the focuser of the revelation 80ed it wouldn't go all the way in as there is a lip about two inches in. I wasn't sure if it was Ok using the Ca-k module not fully in the focuser tube so hence using the 70mm Stellaview. Would it be OK having the module not fully all the way in? I was afraid that the light path might damage to ERF is there was more concentrated light. Anyway if those with more experience than I could advise that would be great. I also had to battle uneven illumination particularly with the HA has during capture the clouds were whizzing over the disk. Pleased with the potential of the Lunt B1800 Ca-K module though.

I found post processing the Ca-K different than processing HA. It's all a new learning curve.
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10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by dhkaiser »

Very nice captures.


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

dhkaiser wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:21 pm Very nice captures.
Thanks dhkaiser, appreciate the comment.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Nigella,

Good images. No need to insert the module all the way in.

Stu.


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

Carbon60 wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:05 pm Hi Nigella,

Good images. No need to insert the module all the way in.

Stu.
Thanks Stu, appreciate your input. I'll use the 80ed tomorrow then, weather permitting.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Hi Nigella, have advised your post (over-leaf) which Stu confirms too.

Good on your first light with the BF1800 and although the disk is a little quiet for Calcium-K imaging, hopefully tomorrow you will capture more images and the focus is fine in your image.

I'm sure you already know that processing is a little-different settings for CaK than Ha, where Brightness, Contrast and colouring make much difference to the RAW image, so well worth trying all sorts of level-changes and sharpening, whilst keep the original RAW image safe elsewhere...

Very well done though

Terry


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Highbury Mark »

Very nice considering the conditions and lack of active regions Nigella. Am sure you’re going to have lots of fun with the new filter.


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

EGRAY_OBSERVATORY wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:19 pm Hi Nigella, have advised your post (over-leaf) which Stu confirms too.

Good on your first light with the BF1800 and although the disk is a little quiet for Calcium-K imaging, hopefully tomorrow you will capture more images and the focus is fine in your image.

I'm sure you already know that processing is a little-different settings for CaK than Ha, where Brightness, Contrast and colouring make much difference to the RAW image, so well worth trying all sorts of level-changes and sharpening, whilst keep the original RAW image safe elsewhere...

Very well done though

Terry
Thanks Terry, appreciate your input as well. Just another learning curve, lol.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

Highbury Mark wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:08 pm Very nice considering the conditions and lack of active regions Nigella. Am sure you’re going to have lots of fun with the new filter.
I'm sure I will, thanks Mark.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by MAURITS »

Nice and clean images Nigella.


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

MAURITS wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:49 am Nice and clean images Nigella.
Thanks Maurits, much appreciated.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Montana »

:hamster: I am very happy for you, I remember viewing CaK for the first time and it was like meeting a new solar system object for the first ever time, I loved it! Don't worry where you place the wedge, in my scopes I tend to bring it in and out as a fast way of focus between white light wedge and CaK wedge so it goes in as far as it comes into focus where the WL was :) it never occurred to me to think of focus point of the telescope on the ERF. Oh well, it is still alive anyway :)

CaK imaging is very different, you don't have etalon issues to worry about and that is a dream but it is very easy to over expose and many fall down this route. It is surprising how dark an exposure you have to get so as not to blow out the white faculae and super granulation. In your capture software zoom in to a region of faculae and keep bringing the exposure right down until you see the individual speckles. The surrounding mottles will be suprisingly dark but don't worry. In post processing you can bring these back up, but if you over expose the white you will have lost the data. Also keep your gamma fairly neutral, when large spots occur it is very easy to get an ugly black umbra if you have gamma even a tiny bit low in CaK.

I hope this helps and thanks for making the Sun vanish :)

Alexandra


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by JochenM »

Nice first results, Nigella!

As far as the capturing and processing of CaK vs HA goes; there's a fair bit of difference indeed. I basically do the same thing Alexandra outlined above (keep the histogram at 60-70% or so as to not blow out the highlights; finetune in post as needed).


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

Montana wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:24 am :hamster: I am very happy for you, I remember viewing CaK for the first time and it was like meeting a new solar system object for the first ever time, I loved it! Don't worry where you place the wedge, in my scopes I tend to bring it in and out as a fast way of focus between white light wedge and CaK wedge so it goes in as far as it comes into focus where the WL was :) it never occurred to me to think of focus point of the telescope on the ERF. Oh well, it is still alive anyway :)

CaK imaging is very different, you don't have etalon issues to worry about and that is a dream but it is very easy to over expose and many fall down this route. It is surprising how dark an exposure you have to get so as not to blow out the white faculae and super granulation. In your capture software zoom in to a region of faculae and keep bringing the exposure right down until you see the individual speckles. The surrounding mottles will be suprisingly dark but don't worry. In post processing you can bring these back up, but if you over expose the white you will have lost the data. Also keep your gamma fairly neutral, when large spots occur it is very easy to get an ugly black umbra if you have gamma even a tiny bit low in CaK.

I hope this helps and thanks for making the Sun vanish :)

Alexandra
Thanks Alexandra, appreciate your help. Yeah, very sorry I got the new kit and now it'll be cloudy, rain, snow, etc, etc for weeks, lol.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

JochenM wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:46 am Nice first results, Nigella!

As far as the capturing and processing of CaK vs HA goes; there's a fair bit of difference indeed. I basically do the same thing Alexandra outlined above (keep the histogram at 60-70% or so as to not blow out the highlights; finetune in post as needed).
Thanks Jochen, really appreciate the guidance.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by marktownley »

Great images Nigella! Sage advice from Alexandra and Jochen, trick is not to over process.


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

marktownley wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:25 am Great images Nigella! Sage advice from Alexandra and Jochen, trick is not to over process.
Thanks Mark. Yeah, good advice. Imaged today and tried Firecapture for the first time. Really liked it. Thing is, I didn't think it would be literally Firecapture. I made a rockie mistake of not caping one of the scope's while adjusting the pressure tuner. I couldn't understand why I could smell burning and continued, next thing, where is this smoke coming from. Omg, me, lol. Lucky I had a shirt on underneath and didn't reach my arm. Solar imaging is dangerous.
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10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Oh dear Nigella.
I certainly won't "rub-in" the snag of today that you've had and you were lucky - somewhat...
But wish you well and better safe than sorry...

Terry


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

EGRAY_OBSERVATORY wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:38 pm Oh dear Nigella.
I certainly won't "rub-in" the snag of today that you've had and you were lucky - somewhat...
But wish you well and better safe than sorry...

Terry
Thanks Terry, lesson learned.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I have heard of people burning themselves with older solar wedges too! Ouch!!


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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

DeepSolar64 wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:39 am I have heard of people burning themselves with older solar wedges too! Ouch!!
Yeah, least it shows people it's dangerous to look through a telescope without proper filters, can you imagine what would happen to your eyeballs. Doesn't even bear thinking about.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Stardust5858 wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 8:13 am
DeepSolar64 wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:39 am I have heard of people burning themselves with older solar wedges too! Ouch!!
Yeah, least it shows people it's dangerous to look through a telescope without proper filters, can you imagine what would happen to your eyeballs. Doesn't even bear thinking about.


It actually wasn't from the eye end but the open end or clear glass covered back where 96 percent of the suns light/heat passes through the wedge. It would burn skin, clothes etc. Modern wedges use a translucent/opaque ceramic disc and/or vents to dissipate the heat.

James


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by MapleRidge »

Great first CaK light Nigella!!!

Each wavelength has its own capture and processing workflows, but you should be onto it in no time ;)

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WL, G-Band & CaK Setup: Lunt Wedge & Lunt B1800CaK, Baader K-Line and Altair 2nm G-Band filter
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Re: First Light Cal-K and HA Full disks through cloud

Post by Stardust5858 »

MapleRidge wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 3:50 am Great first CaK light Nigella!!!

Each wavelength has its own capture and processing workflows, but you should be onto it in no time ;)

Brian
Thanks Brian, yeah, it's just different. Getting to grips with it. Least it's now been sunny these past three days. Lot's of captures so just need to process them all. Something to do after the Easter hols, lol.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
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