Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

this is the main message area for anything solar :)
Post Reply
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42274
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20442 times
Been thanked: 10246 times
Contact:

Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by marktownley »

Back in February I bought a 90mm external double stack etalon for my SM90 scope; a couple of reasons really, I wanted a nice double stack scope to use visually and secondly I wanted something in Ha that could just be used quickly - often the the time it takes a Quark to heat up and it's cloudy again... I'd used the scope a few times but found it and my FLIR IMX174 camera just didn't get on, I just kept getting a weird Newtons rings pattern that I could never really shift... Fast forward to now and my ZWO ASI290mm camera had arrived, and was keen to try it out with a bit of mild barlow and the 290mm.

Sunday was definitely a 'grab and go' day (if you can call 11kg of scope grab and go) and continual cloud streamers seemed to sit directly over the sun for most of the morning. Time wasn't on my side either as was meeting up with friends for a couple of pints at the local at midday so any solar had to be done. With about 15 minutes to go before I was going out the sun kept poking out of the edge of the clouds for 10 or 20 seconds at a time. I managed a few shots like this, and the view was swimming on the laptop screen, but there must have been some better sub frames in the mix as I was surprised at what came out of ImPPG.

There seems to be a real synergy between this scope and camera combo, and I look forward to exploring it more when conditions are improved and time is on my side a little more... In the mean time, here are the pics...

Imagear12816-ha-ds90-290m-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12816-ha-ds90-290m-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12818-ha-ds90-290-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12818-ha-ds90-290-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12819-ha-ds90-290m-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagear12819-ha-ds90-290m-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Not the best, but not my worst! Hope you like.

Mark


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!
EGRAY_OBSERVATORY
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6871
Joined: Mon May 18, 2020 4:45 pm
Location: Essex, S.E.England
Been thanked: 4900 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Yes Mark - I like these a lot and the proms, surface detail and the colouring are excellent.

Thanks for sharing
Regards
Terry


User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16694 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by DeepSolar64 »

You have your images perfected with your SMII90! I still have some learning to do.

Very nice work Mr. Townley.

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
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42274
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20442 times
Been thanked: 10246 times
Contact:

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks guys! I want to clock the external etalon relative to the internal one, and experience tells will yield an increase in performance. Just not got enough time to play with all these scopes that I want to :lol:


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
Stardust5858
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1500
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:44 am
Has thanked: 803 times
Been thanked: 1182 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by Stardust5858 »

Lovely captures Mark, onward and upward.


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.
User avatar
Ivan
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1849
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2021 11:50 pm
Location: Russia, Yaroslavl
Has thanked: 3465 times
Been thanked: 2250 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by Ivan »

Great shots, the external double stack added a lot of contrast.
We have clouds without gaps, so I find out about everything that happens in the Sun here on the forum.


User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14209
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8418 times
Been thanked: 8163 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by Carbon60 »

Looking good there, Mark.

Nice contrast and evenly tuned field of view. I'm sure it will be excellent on a good seeing day. :)

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
Radon86
Almost There...
Almost There...
Posts: 779
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2019 10:05 pm
Has thanked: 745 times
Been thanked: 660 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by Radon86 »

Hi Mark,

Really nice images and good setup Mark. :hamster: :bow2

I was wondering about the active regions. On spaceweather.com, the active regions are now numbered: AR2818, AR2820,AR2821.

1) So I am a bit confused why it is marked AR 12818. Any reason ?

2) I am no expert, but I wonder if you could get better images by limiting the number of images stacked (e.g smaller number) and dealing with noise later down the line. I have found that if you stack too many images, misalignment is more likely to occur. Technically, if you were to select the best 50-100 images manually and align them manually, you could possibly get the optimal result.

3) Have you tried ImageJ for removal of Newton Rings? I have tried it with moderate success. I am currently studying ImageJ and Fourier transforms so I can clear up my images if needed post-processing.

I have also managed to work out a mobile (2 minutes setup) with a camera tripod, Vixen Polarie and a 60mm guidescope - for visual, and I suppose imaging as well. This tracks the sun for over 30 minutes without much drift (I can get it better if polar aligned from previous night) and also if I get a geared ballhead so I can adjust the position more accurately. The imaging scope is very light and can hold the quark and camera ok.

Magnus


Solar: H-alpha": Quark Chromosphere filter; Baader white light filters
Scopes: Altair Astro Travel ED70mm (F 420mm, D=70mm);; Skywatcher 90mm (F 910mm D=90mm); GSO focuser;;Altair Astro 60mm guidescope (D=60mm,F=225mm)
Cameras: ASI120mm-S,ASI174mm
Mount: SW HEQ5 Pro, SW EQ3 Pro Synscan (SW = Skywatcher),Vixen Polarie tracker (portable setup)
Accessory: SW Auto-focuser
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: 6577 times
Contact:

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by pedro »

Great images Mark. We are having bad weather in Portugal, no imaging during the next couple of days...


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: 4787 times
Contact:

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by MAURITS »

Great clean images Mark.


Regards,
Maurits

Vista del Cielo Observatory

www.vistadelcielo.be
User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11172
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9145 times
Been thanked: 6025 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by ffellah »

This scope camera combination seems to work really well for you Mark. Looking forward to seeing more results in the future.

Franco


User avatar
Davidm
Almost There...
Almost There...
Posts: 824
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 6:53 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 289 times

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by Davidm »

Looks really good Mark. Filaproms will look fantastic with that setup.


Lunt LS152T (DSII and CaK module), Coronado Helios 1, Grasshopper 3 2/3" CCD
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42274
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20442 times
Been thanked: 10246 times
Contact:

Re: Sunday Sunshine With The Coronado DS90 25th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks everyone for your kind words!

Boso36 wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:25 am I was wondering about the active regions. On spaceweather.com, the active regions are now numbered: AR2818, AR2820,AR2821.

1) So I am a bit confused why it is marked AR 12818. Any reason ?

2) I am no expert, but I wonder if you could get better images by limiting the number of images stacked (e.g smaller number) and dealing with noise later down the line. I have found that if you stack too many images, misalignment is more likely to occur. Technically, if you were to select the best 50-100 images manually and align them manually, you could possibly get the optimal result.

3) Have you tried ImageJ for removal of Newton Rings? I have tried it with moderate success. I am currently studying ImageJ and Fourier transforms so I can clear up my images if needed post-processing.
Hi Magnus. For whatever reason SW always miss of the starting '1' from the AR designation? These images are a stack of 64 frames from 4000, i've always found AS3 does an excellent job, i'm not sure I would have the patience or perseverance to select and stack manually, i'm all for automation! Noise isn't an issue, in an avi file like this noise is stochastic and will average out in stacking, generally, noise seen in presented images is a result of over sharpening or too many iterations with sharpening. I avoid flat fielding with my images, and certainly don't bother to try and remove gradients / banding in post processing, maybe im lucky, I only get it with my IMX174 in Ha.

Seeing is my issue most of the time (or a lack of better seeing than I get!), you can see this in the images above on the limb, a general smoothening of the edge with lack of real spicules or jets. Lack of real detail to the proms, other than basic outline, is also a give away.

Mark


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!
Post Reply