AR2916, 2918, et al & Discs | HA, CaK, WL | Dec 25th 2021

[MalVeauX]

Hi all,

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone! How exciting we get to also see the James Webb telescope successfully finally make it off-world to start its journey and start getting some crazy new data to learn from in the next 1.5 years. Amazing we get to grow up with Hubble and now James Webb all in the same lifetime?!

I almost did not get to image this morning. My mount didn't turn on at first. It turned off while imaging after the first 30 seconds even. Then for whatever reason started working again. Hoping to get a new mount soon. Missing so much!

The disc is lively and its great to see the 2 main magnetic bands of cycle 25 so obvious with all the active regions following the two hemispheric belts. Today's haul was fair under fair seeing ranging from 0.8 to 1.0 arc-second spikes with averages much higher in the 1.2 to 1.8 arc-second regions. I took two readings with the SSM to show the momentary spikes of sub-arc-second seeing hidden in the much longer 1 hour dataset that shows the much higher average that indicates worse average seeing of course. But, lucky imaging prevails. Presented in HA, CaK & WL today.

B&W:























Colored:























Alts, Negatives:



















Seeing Conditions:


Peaks at short time scale to see the hidden sub-arc-second seeing moments and frequency:

Seeing_SmallScale_12252021.jpg (73.45 KiB) Viewed 787 times

Full 1 hour scale showing only the average, compressing and losing the peaks:

Seeing_12252021.jpg (113.16 KiB) Viewed 787 times

Equipment:


Celestron 150mm F8 Achromatic Doublet Refractor
Aries full aperture D-ERF in 3D printed cell
Lunt 60 modular etalon + 12mm BF + IMX290 sensor (HA)
Baader 2" Ceramic Cool Wedge + 540nm Filter + IMX290 sensor (WL)

Celestron Omni XLT 120mm F8.3 Achromatic Doublet Refractor
Masked to 100mm F10
Lunt CaK B1200 Module + IMX253 (Disc CaK)
Lunt CaK B1200 Module + IMX290 (Partial Disc CaK)
Baader 2" Ceramic Cool Wedge + 540nm Filter + IMX253 sensor (Disc WL)

Lunt 60mm F7 Modular Refractor + 12mm BF + IMX253 sensor (Disc HA)

Solarsetup_all_12252021.jpg (185.19 KiB) Viewed 786 times

Very best,

[DeepSolar64]

WoW, Marty! I am blown away!! That's an outstanding run of solar images. All are great and cover the Christmas Sun very well today. I cannot easily pick a favorite. All are beautifully detailed and show an excellent portrait of happenings on the Sun today.

Thanks for posting and Merry Christmas, Marty and Family.

James

[torsinadoc]

Nice set. That Lunt 60 mod appears to be working well

Alan

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Marty, how gratifying to produce and show such an amazing set of Solar imagery on Christmas Day,

Absolutely fabulous set and showing so much detail.

Thanks vm for sharing.
Best wishes for 2023..

Terry

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

My Marty, the soft-drinks have gotten to me already and the other type have been started yet !!
So of course I meant 2022, but 2023 still stands too..

Terry

[ffellah]

A fantastic and complete set, Marty ! Very glad to see you back imaging.

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

My Marty, the soft-drinks have gotten to me already and the other type have been started yet !!
So of course I meant 2022, but 2023 still stands too..

Terry

How about the strawberry daiquiri w/Bacardi rum!! It beats soft drinks anytime!!

And Marty gave as all a nice Christmas present in images! Thanks Marty!

JP

[dhkaiser]

Well done Marty as usual.

[jacinto]

A very complete report of the sun, the images have excellent details

[Valery]

So many nice images!

Thanks for sharing them with us.

BTW. What is the H-a etalon has been used?


Valery

[Radon86]

Very nice work Marty!

Happy Holidays.

Just wondering what camera is the IMX253 sensor ?
I found a link to 365 Astronomy:

https://www.365astronomy.com/photograph ... g-exposure

(cost about 1393 GBP) = 1860 USD approx at 1.32 exchange rate approximately.

Magnus

[MalVeauX]

BTW. What is the H-a etalon has been used?


Valery

Hi,

The Ha etalon used here is the removable section of the latest Lunt 60 modular series version of the scope. I didn't mod the actual etalon chamber or anything and left the collimator lenses intact. The only thing I did was shortened my OTA to allow me to reach a back focus of -264mm and that's where the collimator lens is placed. The stock Lunt 60 modular setup is a 70mm F6 refractor and the collimator and etalon chamber inserts deep into it and masks it internally to 60mm F7. I replicated this and scaled it up to a 150mm F8 system. I measured where the collimator was in the stock Lunt 70mm F6 scope with the etalon chamber and everything and found it sitting at -264mm (not F7 or -140mm at all, I tried this too and it did not work).

So after measuring back focus at -264mm I shortened by OTA and now the Lunt 60 modular simply inserts into a 2" focuser just like any 2" gear and is placed properly and achieves focus and the sweet spot is nearly the entire FOV on the IMX290 sensor on a 150mm F8 system (unlike my smaller PST mod with a 20mm etalon aperture, the Lunt 60 etalon is around 75% larger at ~35~36mm clear aperture into the etalon; so the resulting acceptance angle with the larger etalon allowed a bigger jacquinot spot on band). The Lunt 60's chamber nose has the same threading as a the PST chamber, M50x1, so I bought a step up ring and step down ring and converted it to M48x0.75 (2") so that a 2" extension will allow it to insert into a standard 2" focuser and use standard 2" filters too. It came with a red piece of glass (not reflective) on its stock nose, which threads off so I set it aside. I replaced it with a baader red ccd-ir block filter on the 2" extensions that I threaded on instead. So between the Aries DERF and that 2" red filter, blocking is complete, no tube currents, no heat at all on the back. The pressure tuner is much easier and stable than my PST's mechanical pressure tuner, and the uniformity and finesse on this Lunt filter seems to be pretty good.

My last photo above, on the bottom left, you can open it up and its larger and see the Lunt module inserted into the scope's focuser. I will make a thread in the mod forum soon to show all the parts and measurements I used on this mod. I know some have done this already with the Lunt 50, but its smaller etalon results in a smaller sweet spot. I wanted a larger sweet spot and wanted to keep it modular without any destruction to the Lunt itself, so the new Lunt 60 modular series seems made for this. A Lunt 80 would be even better, but they're more expensive. I hope to find a way to double stack this one soon with a 2nd chamber of some sort (either a Lunt 80 DS II, Lunt 60 again or a Lunt 50 maybe even). I could of course use my PST etalon and will try that first. Might also consider a mica-spaced double stack on this, but I loath to return to mica-spaced simply due to the temperature and electronic components.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I made a seperate thread about the Lunt 60 mod here:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34331



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Very best,

[MalVeauX]

Just wondering what camera is the IMX253 sensor ?


Magnus

Hi,

The IMX253 sensor I'm using is housed in a Flir Grasshopper GS3-U3-123S6M-C (mono, 1.1", 3.45um pixel size, IMX253 sony sensor). I got two off Ebay for $500 USD. They're used as security cameras by industrial buildings and then sold after a certain period for pennies compared to their MSRP (which is way over-priced). Bob Y alerted me to these cameras on ebay being a thing and I found some so it worked out. A great deal if you find one. But really, any large sensor (1" or greater) with smaller pixels and around 30 FPS will be fine for full disc imaging. I had to switch because the IMX183 sensor has grid artifact issues, like the IMX178 sensor does, with subangstrom HA imaging for me (not for everyone it seems).

Very best,

[rigel123]

Quite the collection Marty! Glad you finally got some decent weather!

[Montana]

Merry Christmas Marty! we watched the JW launch while eating our Christmas dinner, I was so nervous as we have been waiting for this for 20 years can you imagine if it had failed at launch. Well, it didn't and it made the Christmas dinner taste so much better.

Fabulous images and I am so glad you had a lovely sunny Christmas and some peace to view

Alexandra

[MalVeauX]

can you imagine if it had failed at launch. Well, it didn't and it made the Christmas dinner taste so much better.

I worried a little that I would wake up to news that something went wrong and it didn't make it off-world or that something malfunctioned or there was an accident, etc. I'm so glad nothing happened. It's truly awesome to have Hubble growing up and now JW to take it up a notch. Maybe a 3rd by the time I'm ancient? Who knows! We need more scopes in the sky to collect data and learn stuff. Way more important than millionaire/billionaire stratosphere surfing.

Very best,

[DeepSolar64]

I was really glad to see WST go up without a hitch too. I just hope everything deploys and works properly. It ain’t over until the fat lady sings and I ain’t heard Brunhilde yet!!

Another thing I wonder. Does NASA have a direct replacement planned for the SDO? That solar observatory is valuable not only to the professional community but also to educators and amateurs as well. It’s fuel won’t last indefinitely.

Nice work and equipment again, Marty!!

James.

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Agreed with both Marty and James's comments.

Hubble had that mirror snag, which was rectified by humans in space, but whether JWST can be repaired or up-graded by us, should have been thought about, but unlikely can be done.

Of course Hubble can only last for so long in orbit, but let's wish JWST the best of human-manufacture and success during its' lifetime and journey...

As for the "millionaire/billionaire stratosphere surfing" - unless there is a benefit to human-kind on mother Earth, then let them waste their dosh...

As for the

Terry

[Carbon60]

An excellent session, Marty. You’ve been busy.

Stu.

[Ivan]

Wow Marty, this is a great session.

Ivan

[pedro]

Great images there Marty

[arnedanielsen]

Absolutely beautiful collection of images, Marty!

Thanks for sharing,
Arne

[Radon86]

Just wondering what camera is the IMX253 sensor ?


Magnus

Hi,

The IMX253 sensor I'm using is housed in a Flir Grasshopper GS3-U3-123S6M-C (mono, 1.1", 3.45um pixel size, IMX253 sony sensor). I got two off Ebay for $500 USD. They're used as security cameras by industrial buildings and then sold after a certain period for pennies compared to their MSRP (which is way over-priced). Bob Y alerted me to these cameras on ebay being a thing and I found some so it worked out. A great deal if you find one. But really, any large sensor (1" or greater) with smaller pixels and around 30 FPS will be fine for full disc imaging. I had to switch because the IMX183 sensor has grid artifact issues, like the IMX178 sensor does, with subangstrom HA imaging for me (not for everyone it seems).

Very best,

Hi Marty,

Maybe grid artifacts can be processed out using frequency separation, or Fast Fourier transforms. I don't think it is too hard to remove. ImagesPlus is now free as a download as well from www.mlunsold.com.

I removed Newton Rings sometimes with ImageJ. It is not too bad. Also can be fun and challenging !!

Magnus

[marktownley]

ImagesPlus is now free as a download as well from www.mlunsold.com.

It needs a serial key

[MalVeauX]

Just wondering what camera is the IMX253 sensor ?


Magnus

Hi,

The IMX253 sensor I'm using is housed in a Flir Grasshopper GS3-U3-123S6M-C (mono, 1.1", 3.45um pixel size, IMX253 sony sensor). I got two off Ebay for $500 USD. They're used as security cameras by industrial buildings and then sold after a certain period for pennies compared to their MSRP (which is way over-priced). Bob Y alerted me to these cameras on ebay being a thing and I found some so it worked out. A great deal if you find one. But really, any large sensor (1" or greater) with smaller pixels and around 30 FPS will be fine for full disc imaging. I had to switch because the IMX183 sensor has grid artifact issues, like the IMX178 sensor does, with subangstrom HA imaging for me (not for everyone it seems).

Very best,

Hi Marty,

Maybe grid artifacts can be processed out using frequency separation, or Fast Fourier transforms. I don't think it is too hard to remove. ImagesPlus is now free as a download as well from www.mlunsold.com.

I removed Newton Rings sometimes with ImageJ. It is not too bad. Also can be fun and challenging !!

Magnus

Heya,

You can totally remove newtonian rings with Fast Fourier. But, not constant grid I don't think. It's been proven by a user that the IMX178's grid artifact (and likely the IMX183) is a result of a specific pixel group being brighter than the others, despite not having a bayer matrix on the mono it behaves like it does. Anyhow, it was easy to correct with re-coding and lowering the brightness of those specific pixels in series. But the code was written in linux and isn't available to everyone sadly. I think the user dropped the project anyways due to a litigation scare.

Very best,

[MalVeauX]

ImagesPlus is now free as a download as well from www.mlunsold.com.

It needs a serial key

Hi Mark,

ImageJ (freeware) can do Fast Fourier Transformations. Here's a complete guide (PDF) attached which can be used on solar newtonian rings with examples.

Trick for removing Newton's Rings _ Fringes from images - Solar Observing and Imaging - Cloudy Nights.pdf

(8.32 MiB) Downloaded 38 times

Very best,