salvo lauricella wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:45 am

Wonderful work! It is a dream!

Thank you Salvo.

Now I must produce some images worthy of the investment in time and materials.

I am at 55N. Which means the sun is very low at 12-15° maximum altitude in winter and there is a lot of atmosphere in the way.

krakatoa1883 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:18 pm

Fine prom image and beautiful observatory indeed! Congrats!

Thank you very much Raf,

If I could ever compare my images to your fabulous results I would be deleriously happy!

I have just been admiring your superb website and your wonderful images.

marktownley wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:28 pm

Lovely thread Rusted! No danger of being banned here for speaking your mind

Thank you Mark, but you really shouldn't encourage me!

Hi Rusted, Well I was also banned from CN because of just saying that I would not recommend a Losmandy G11 mount after having owned two for more then 15 years :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: If this is OT please delete it ... but this is real life :lol: :lol: :lol: Rainer Hi Rainer, Tut-tut! :mrgreen...

Hi Rainer, Thanks. I'm actually English but living in exile in rural Denmark. I believe I was close to having the longest thread on CN. Until I was banned for mentioning solar telescope mods. [Twice!] :oops: I think they were glad to see the back of me! I'll try not to outstay my welcome here. ;) I ...

Hi Robert, Good fun, isn't it? As Eric said earlier, ATM is a multi-skilled "Jack of all trades" sort of pastime. Most would probably add: "Master of none!" :mrgreen: Good luck if you think any of my blog worth is reading. I'd just look at the pictures and you'll see what I did. I think aloud, in te...

Many thanks again for all your positive comments and to Eric in particular. :D I have been an isolated ATM for nearly 60 years. Always on a shoestring. Buying secondhand accessories by post. Information sources were usually library books. Or magazines to be read only at the library. Far too many man...

:D Thank you, all, for your kind words. :D The dome is now lined with black, weed suppressing, ladscaping material, spaced off the panels. Matt black paint didn't do well and develops white mould in our cool, damp climate. P1400669 rsz.JPG I have an overhead pulley system to help me lift heavy OTA's...

Many thanks to all who responded so positively. I thought it was a poor image even by my own standards. I discovered H-alpha solar only recently thanks to some familiar experts on SGL. Only to find that I couldn't often see the sun from the yard due to local trees and hedges. So I built a two storey...

Thank you Franco.

I hardly dare to share my "daubs" in these illustrious surroundings, but I managed to capture the tall prom today. This was despite a very low altitude sun at 55N [below 15°] fast moving, low cloud and heavy thermal shaking all day. 6" f/8, 90mm internal D-ERF, Baader 35nm, 1.125GPC, motorized PST e...

Hi Marty,

You have added the filter precisely where I tried and found the etalon moved backwards by the thickness of the filter housing.
Not sure this matters but I just preferred a more stealthy filter setting which did not push the fittings apart.

Marty I discovered only today that you can't screw a normal 2" filter into the front, AOK, etalon adapter. It fits, but not without displacing the etalon away from the objective by the thickness of the filter body. I was going to add a Baader 35nm filter to the AOK nose but had to move it forwards b...

Hi Marty Assuming you are using the AOC Swiss adapters you can fit the 1.125 GPC directly in front of the etalon. The problem is having to turn the baffle in the front AOC to fit the GPC nose through it. The baffle hole is slightly too small. I used a lathe but you could file it with a large, coarse...

Thank you Marty. My hero! :D I went straight on to binge watch your other capture and processing videos. The more I watch the more I realise my ignorance of many of the settings in all the softwares I/we use regularly. Your tutorials will, hopefully, save me/us tremendous amounts of time not having ...

Thank you Rainer.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too.

Sorry I missed your post.

I have the Lacerta 2" with the odd Brewster angle. It appears to be optically fine and the heat sink remains cool in my 7" f/12. It has a rotatable top stage which allows very easy dimming using a single polariser. It has a built in ND and I added a 1.25" Baader Solar Continuum. The third filter act...

Thank you Marty. I now have a 150/10 objective on order to remove the GPC from the optical train. My lack of skill with image processing means I must make every attempt to optimise my results where I can. [Budget permitting.] I seemed to be getting more dust bunnies with the 1.125 GPC but can't be c...

A small update: A slightly shorter 240mm timing belt arrived in the post. This meant I could have a lower profile on the etalon drive motor than with the 250mm belt. I had to use the heavier of the two motor support brackets supplied in the focuser motor kit. The bracket is too long and both the sup...

Thanks for the excellent images Rainer.

A very clever solution! I had imagined rotation was required.

An incredibly neat solution and you are quite right about using stepper motors. Except for the greater complexity and expense for those not gifted in electronics. I agree about the gentle adjustment being a revelation in tuning. Remote, or otherwise. I'm struggling to see the actual drive interface ...

The cloud was a real teaser today but I managed a few, short trials with the etalon tuning motor.

Montana wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:42 pm

Sorry Rusted, we aren't as rich as Stargazers Lounge
Alexandra

Thank goodness for smilies!

Stunning images but there is no LIKE button on this forum. Is there?

Good result! Thank you Mark. Sorry it took so long to complete the project after my initial posts. I really thought it would only be a couple of days for the belts to arrive. But I was at the mercy of 18th Century European postal speeds! With regular stops for fresh draw horses for the 2mph narrow ...