If you want a bit more contrast just stop the aperture of your scope down a bit.

Heya Derek! Good to see you here again. Lovely shots as always! Not many stars to be seen in the centre of Sydney then I guess?

Lovely images Pedro! I watched it from the port in Barcelona with a school trip. Took binoculars along for viewing, everyone had a great time! There was an ISS pass too.

Starry Jack wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 17, 2019 1:43 pm

Does the quark perform well at f16.5 (combo with 2.5) and f26 (classic with a focal reducer)? Daystar says they like around the f30-40 range.

Go with what Daystar says, don't over complicate it! I'd get the Quark with the built in 4.2x telecentric.

It has great potential for full disks Phil.

It definitely need a sun dance - give it a week or so

Interesting John! Looks typical of the metal lines on the sun.

A great blast from the past, they were angry looking spots!

They came out well Lou!

Came out very well Phil!

Excellent as always John like Alexandra says keep an eye open for those bright points in high latitudes.

That's a nice prom Pepe!

You would need to take the little 12.5mm one out of the base of the telecentric in the quark, it just has a retaining ring. 2 blocking filters would make it awfully dark!

Welcome to the forum btw!

This is excellent Raf!

A nice run of disks Pedro

Came out well Pepe!

Good results Lou!

These are super images Brian! A very productive session.

Good result!

Quark sounds a good idea

Merlin66 wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:27 pm

Keep it simple, and safe.

Sage advice from Ken

My first response would be to take the Quark apart and reassemble it, my gut feeling is something (lens or filters) are pinched - I had it with my SM40 a decade ago. However, it is a new Quark so probably this is not the most feasible of advice ;) The bandpass across the image looks good Stu, so tha...

solarchatted wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:14 pm

If possible, tomorrow I will also try the Etalon [in front of the focuser] ' without both lenses ' + a 2x kind of shorty Barlow I have - just to see if that could work too.

No it won't work. Don't waste your time. Many have been here with the same thought.

... I thought the only difference between Baader RED + IR filter was simply like a Meade 4000 RED + IR/UV filter [which I have] ... No, totally different beasts. The way the 4000 filter works is by absorbing energy, regardless of what configuration is used it will absorb energy and at some point cr...

How very strange! That 90 degree cross hatching is peculiar. Does it rotate with the Quark?