Sol’ex kit has arrived

[astroshot]

After seeing the recent images and discussing the kit with some of you on our recent calls, I ordered the Sol’ex kit with printed parts
The parts arrived by courier last night while I was away. Looking forward to getting back home today and start assembling it.
I’ll use this post to document the construction.
Michael.

[marktownley]

Where did you order them from if you don't mind Michael?

[christian viladrich]

Where did you order them from if you don't mind Michael?

An updated and improved printed version is available from here :
https://azur3dprintshop.com/9-solex-base.html

The optical parts are available from here :
https://www.shelyak.com/produit/kit-opt ... x/?lang=en

[marktownley]

Oooooooo!

I've just changed what I want for Christmas...

[thesmiths]

An updated and improved printed version is available from here :
https://azur3dprintshop.com/9-solex-base.html

The optical parts are available from here :
https://www.shelyak.com/produit/kit-opt ... x/?lang=en

The improved version from Azur Print is actually not the link above. Go to https://azur3dprintshop.com/35-le-solaire and look for Sol'Ex Version 2.0, which is significantly improved over the original design.

If you order the optics from Shelyak, I would ask them for an additional 125mm lens. This will be useful if you eventually want to use a longer focal length telescope. The Sol'Ex was designed to be used with a telescope with a maximum of about 420mm focal length. If you use the second 125mm lens as the collimator, you can use a 80mm f/7.5 telescope (e.g. Skywatcher 80ED) with a few modifications.

The best camera sensor to use is the IMX 178 (monochrome, USB3, uncooled). The IMX 183 is probably a little better, but it is much larger than necessary and therefore much more expensive.

[astroshot]

Mark,

I ordered the ES0031:
– Star’Ex HR optical kit, including everything you need to build a Sol’Ex or a Star’Ex HR
https://www.shelyak.com/produit/kit-opt ... n/?lang=en
Essentially, buy once, cry once.

Re the Sol'ex V2.0, printed parts, I got the Gold Edition with:
- Star Ex 2.0kit
- Adjustable filter holder for solar corona, and
- Polarizing filter support V2.0
https://azur3dprintshop.com/103-822-sol ... nt_v20-oui
Same approach as above.

I suggest using the Google Translate Extension in Chrome to make it easier to read the French if you aren't fluent in it.
While I have some French from studying it back in school, I'm a tad rusty now unfortunately.

Regards,
Michael.

[astroshot]

Optical components.

Bottom row: Sol’ex
Top row Star’ex extra parts.

[astroshot]

Main body:

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[astroshot]

Remaining 3d-printed components:

IMG_0264.jpeg (3.25 MiB) Viewed 1880 times

[Carbon60]

Exciting news, Michael. Looking forward to seeing this all come together.

Stu.

[marktownley]

Exciting news, Michael. Looking forward to seeing this all come together.

Stu.

Indeed! I concur!

[astroshot]

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[astroshot]

Optical components now installed.
See photo above with components installed adjacent to their original plastic labelled bag.
OP0181 camera doublet lens installed in a little tube at the top connecting the camera tube to the main body.
OP0177 2400l/mm grating installed in main body.
OP0176 collimator doublet lens installed in a little tube connecting the square box to the main body.
SE0253 10um slit installed in square box.

[astroshot]

The quality of the 3d printed components is very good - much better than those shown in the original instruction video.
Installing the optics is easy once you follow the video precisely.

[astroshot]

A few items which are not included with the optical kit or printed kit, but which are essential:

1. ZWO 1.25” helical focuser - this is needed to thread on to the top piece to attach (and focus) the camera. I have just ordered one now, so will have to wait until mid-Jan for it to arrive. I actually ordered two of them - so as to have the extra one in case I want to convert it to a Star’ex sometime (i.e 2 no. focusers required in Star'ex mode).

2. 1.25” nosepiece on the optical front at the bottom left corner. This is a male 1.25” to male 42mm adapter. Luckily I had a spare one here.

3. 1.25” UV/IR filter (hidden under the smaller yellow dust cap) which is connected to the front of the 1.25” adapter piece. Again, I happened to have one. This is needed to filter out the extreme ends of the spectrum, and achieve better focus and sharper image across the remainder of the spectrum.

Note the yellow dust caps - I already had these, so decided to use them here and keep the system as dust-free as possible. The yellow colour is quite appropriate I think in this case! ;-)

[nicspenceryork]

Exciting to see your purchase & looking forward to your images.
I very nearly bought it at the start of the year but chickened out in the hope of one being developed that's already been built, surely that's not too far in future... nice little side line for someone?!

[astroshot]

Exciting to see your purchase & looking forward to your images.
I very nearly bought it at the start of the year but chickened out in the hope of one being developed that's already been built, surely that's not too far in future... nice little side line for someone?!

Chickens not welcome here Nic, or turkeys for that matter, especially at this time of year.

It's actually quite easy to assemble - easier than the guidance video would imply - it is very thorough, which is great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh24I_1 ... ro-Spectro

Michael.

[Merlin66]

Michael,
Not all Uv-IR filters are suitable (or ideal) for the SHG.
The "standard" astro Uv-IR filter will probably block below 400nm. This prevents imaging the CaK/H lines around 393nm.
I found the Astronomik L1 filter allowed access to the Ca II lines.

[astroshot]

Ah, that's a good point Ken.
Once the system is focused, one could then remove the filter for imaging at Cak.

[astroshot]

A few items which are not included with the optical kit or printed kit, but which are essential:

1. ZWO 1.25” helical focuser - this is needed to thread on to the top piece to attach (and focus) the camera. I have just ordered one now, so will have to wait until mid-Jan for it to arrive. I actually ordered two of them - so as to have the extra one in case I want to convert it to a Star’ex sometime (i.e 2 no. focusers required in Star'ex mode).

2. 1.25” nosepiece on the optical front at the bottom left corner. This is a male 1.25” to male 42mm adapter. Luckily I had a spare one here.

3. 1.25” UV/IR filter (hidden under the smaller yellow dust cap) which is connected to the front of the 1.25” adapter piece. Again, I happened to have one. This is needed to filter out the extreme ends of the spectrum, and achieve better focus and sharper image across the remainder of the spectrum.

Note the yellow dust caps - I already had these, so decided to use them here and keep the system as dust-free as possible. The yellow colour is quite appropriate I think in this case! ;-)

I can also add the following items to the list:

4. ZWO ASI 178mm camera. I need to get one.

5. ND filters. I already have the Baader Cool Ceramic Heschel Wedge Photographic version, which comes with 2" threaded ND filters (3.0, 1.8, 0.9 and 0.6) along with the Continuum filter. The 3.0 and Continuum filters are installed together in the wedge, and to be honest, I never felt the need to change them as the image is plenty bright enough. So, I can use the 0.6, 0.9 and the 1.8 ND filters for this Sol'ex setup. I already have an Askar 40mm f/4.5 scope which takes 2" threaded filters over the front lens. So, this should make a nice combo for the Sol'ex, hopefully.

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[pedro]

Looks great Michael, It's the new 3D print model

Here is a comparison image (TV127 Double Stack 0.5A and Sol'Ex 0.2A)

SUN_TV_NP127_20231223_GS3-U3-28S5M_MOSAIC_SOLEX by Pedro Re', on Flickr

[astroshot]

Wow, that's amazing comparison Pedro!
I was wondering alright what the bandwidth would be.
Out of curiosity, do you know what the calc is to determine that?
I presume it is linked to the lines per mm of the grating, yea?

[pedro]

No idea, according to C.Buil it should be around 0.2A

[Merlin66]

You can get a good estimate of the SHG performance by using the SimSpec SHG spreadsheet.
The resolution is related to the optics camera and grating parameters.

SimSpec SHG V1_5a.xlsx

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[thesmiths]

The H-alpha line is quite broad due to the fine structure splitting of the line. The splitting is equivalent to approximately 0.16 angstrom. This suggests to me that around 0.2 angstrom spectral resolution is about all that you need for normal H-alpha imaging.

The imaging of H-alpha Doppler effects might benefit from higher resolution though. Other lines that show even finer structure, like Zeeman splitting, would benefit from resolution of 0.1 angstrom.

My impression is that although that Ca-K/H lines are very broad, the central part of the line is actually quite narrow and could also benefit from 0.1 angstrom resolution.

The splitting of the H-alpha spectral line is attributed to an interaction between the electron spin S and the orbital angular momentum L, called the spin-orbit interaction.

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[astroshot]

You can get a good estimate of the SHG performance by using the SimSpec SHG spreadsheet.
The resolution is related to the optics camera and grating parameters.

SimSpec SHG V1_5a.xlsx

Thanks Ken.
That's a useful spreadsheet!
Michael.

[astroshot]

My Zwo focusers arrrived, so I have my Sol’ex assembled now.
Still waiting on my 178mm mono camera, so just playing around today with my 120mc colour cam while the Sun tries to burn through the fog. Image below shows the Sodium doublet. Focusing is a bit tricky. Nice to see the spectrum in colour too.

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IMG_0296.jpeg (2.82 MiB) Viewed 606 times

[Albireo]

Hi all,

sorry for reviving this topic.

I read about the Sol'ex and are planning to get one in the near future. Especially being able to do stuff like dopplergrams and magnetograms is exciting but also just observing in different wavelengths at (almost) the same time.

I have two questions. I have an older Orion Short Tube 80/400 and a ZWO ASI174MM. I know this is not the ideal set up but how would you rate the performance with a Sol'ex? Eventually I'll probably get more equipment so until then I would be happy with not ideal results as well (if the set up is not total garbage for this).

Also I See that Azurpint offers a filter holder for observation of the Solar corona. What filter would be used with this and how would such an observation be carried out? I only know about observing the corona with a chronograph, so I'm curious how this would be done with the Sol'ex.

Many thanks,
Jan