Very first photo with new Lunt LS80MT

[rimcrazy]

So this is my very first shot with my new Lunt LS80MT. On this particular photo all I was hoping to accomplish was get a quick shot of the sun to verify the telescope was functional, the camera was functional and process a quick shot to see what I can get. The weather at the time of this picture (1/13/22) was not helpful. It had been overcast in Phoenix for days and this particular day we had some parting of the clouds but not a lot. Cloud cover was patchy when I was taking this photo. In addition to that, there was no polar alignment of the mount other than a quick iPhone check, tracking was stellar not solar, no motor focus (which for those with eyes that work is fine.... me......stop it your killing me ), no flats and seeing was marginal at best. All of that being said, I'm pretty happy. I know I have WAYS to go to even begin to catch up with the stable of experts on this site but every journey begins with a first step.

Cheers,

[ffellah]

Nice first shot, Phil. One suggestion for me would be a bit less sharpening, but a good start !

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

Phil,
Hey. Congratulations on a decent first light image! How does the scope do visually?

James

[rimcrazy]

Hi James

It looks pretty awesome visually. I didn’t spend a lot of time this time looking visually because once I could see the scope was working I wanted to check out the camera. Next clear day I hope to spend a lot more time with both. I’ve been saving and planning this setup for a while. I have an observatory at our place in Overgaard Az up in the Mogollon Rim but we spend most of our time in Phoenix. I got hooked on solar observation when a friend of mine loaned me his Coronado 90 Max. It was very nice. He passed away unfortunately from Covid so at the moment I’m helping his widow sell all of his telescopes. I picked up the Lunt advance kit which has the Ha, Cak and white light blocking filters along with the conversion kit for night viewing. I have 2 Pier-Tech PT2 piers that lift and lower the telescopes for both the Lunt setup and on the other I have a 14” Celestron Edge HD on a EQ8 mount. What’s that saying “You can never have too many telescopes “

Phil

[DeepSolar64]

Phil,
Sorry for the loss of your friend. All this COVID stuff sucks. Both my wife and my step-daughter have it as I type this. They are faring ok so far.

Have you thought of keeping the " Nado " 90 for yourself? I have a SMII90 also. It's a nice scope.

I have 10 telescopes. My largest is a Sky-Watcher 12" dob. Just ask Pedro Re' how many he has!

James

[marktownley]

Nice first light. Reading the comments on astrobin I would definitely give it a tune and see if you can get a more even disk - the left hand side is on band but the right definitely not. Some time getting to know the pressure tuner will help.

[Ivan]

Hey Phil
Nice FD, great start! I agree with Mark, you can try playing around with the etalon setting to make the disc more even.

Ivan

[pedro]

Nice first light i mage Phil

I agree with Mark, try to adjust the PT to get a more even disk

[rimcrazy]

Thanks for all the kind words. So this is a bit interesting. As can be seen I posted the image from my Astrobin account. On Astrobin a gentleman suggested that his first thoughts on the image was that my telescope had been dropped and my etalon was decontacted. I've never heard of this term so I'm not quite sure I would recognize it if I saw it. That being said, yes the telescope was in fact dropped by UPS in delivering it to me. Here you can see the case of the scope as I received it:


The case for the Lunt LS80MT


Image of the Ha blocking filter as it was what punched through the side

Lunt was good and shipped me a new case the very next day. That being said no one mentioned to me that there was a possibility of damage to the etalon although that was first and foremost on my mind. The very first sentence of the second page of the manual for the LS80MT says this... "However, the instrument should NEVER be subjected to shock due to being dropped." and then the paragraph goes on to mention that the etalon could be damaged with a decontact. Sooooo......

I just wrote to Lunt this morning and I will investigate this further. Unfortunately I don't have the experience like all of you to recognize if the etalon has in fact been damaged. Given that I live in Arizona and Lunt is only a 2 hour drive away, I am going to suggest to them that regardless, I'm going to drop off the scope and they can inspect it for damage from the drop and fix it if there has been any damage. I can then drive down to pick it up as I no longer trust USP to ship it and not play dodge-ball with it in the process. Good grief...... this all started as I WAS originally going to pick it up. Take a nice drive with the wife down to Tucson, pick up the scope, have lunch at the Blue Willow Resturant and drive back. Then, my wife was exposed to Covid at work. She and I both have had Covid, all of our vaccines and boosters but to be safe we quarantined ourselves...... which canceled the trip to Tucson. So I called Lunt as I wanted the scope and they said no problem and shipped it to me. You just can't make this stuff up can you?

James, to your question, no I am not going to purchase the Coronado from my friends widow. It was not a bad scope but I wanted the Lunt because I can use it for night as well as daytime solar viewing. She's got a lot of telescopes to sell off, not the least of which is a 16" custom Mak.

[DeepSolar64]

I have always heard that Lunt has really good customer service, especially since Meade has never been known for it. I hope Orion changes that.

A 16” custom Mak would cost a fortune!!

James

[rimcrazy]

I have always heard that Lunt has really good customer service, especially since Meade has never been known for it. I hope Orion changes that.

A 16” custom Mak would cost a fortune!!

James

Lunt has been awesome and I know they will support me. I'm not worried about it at all in the long run. It's just a nuisance is all. Yea... Big Mak as she calls it was around $35k new + shipping. That's truly a "One of a kind" scope. It is a beautiful OTA. It was custom made by APM Telescopes in Germany. It will find a new home but probably will not be an easy sell.

[DeepSolar64]

Nope. Few amateurs have that much money. A school or university may buy it though.

I would love to see someone here buy it and use it for solar! Pedro!!?

Good luck with your Lunt. I always preferred Fedex with things like this.

[Ivan]

I am also not a big expert in this area, but a few months ago Bob Yoesle sent a photo of what the Sun looks like in a decontacted etalon. It was about DS SM90 II.

Ivan

[rimcrazy]

I am also not a big expert in this area, but a few months ago Bob Yoesle sent a photo of what the Sun looks like in a decontacted etalon. It was about DS SM90 II.

Ivan

Oh this is excellent. Thank you very much. Not knowing what I’m looking for is obviously a big issue. This helps a lot. Should be nice and clear this morning and tomorrow AM. I’m planning to go out and check it out now. News at 11 as they say.

Forums like this are the bomb. I’d never get this much good information on my own and to get such great feedback so fast is a godsend. Thanks much again to all.

[Montana]

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend

The image is great but I too was going to say that it should be like the left hand side all over the disc and not like the white light view on the right. A little bit of tweaking is required next time out. If it won't, then may be it could be decontacted? but that is for Lunt to decide, make sure you give them plenty of pictures.

You can also embed your image in the post by right clicking on it, select 'copy image address' then in the full editor message box there is a little button at the top called 'insert image' click on that and paste the address in between the two image boxes



Alexandra

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Initially Phil, there may well be nothing wrong with the scope and filter, where as Mark T., has confirmed that more practice with the Etalon pressure tuning is required. With an eye-piece only, try tuning until you can see an equal-light and detail over the whole disk.

Adding the camera, should then confirm that you are getting to (or very-close to the "sweet-spot") where only fine adjustment might be necessary for any given imaging-session.

A good clear sky will be an advantage to getting things just right with that practice and patience.

Lunt will give you the best service (if required), but first get used to the tuning and let us see some images as Alexandra has shown...

Best Wishes
Terry

[rimcrazy]

I'll just continue with this thread for consistency. Went out this morning and burped the PT and then using the Lunt Zoom eyepiece carefully dialed in the tuner to get the best detail I could see. Seeing was quite good today. Lots of detail even just visual. I set up and did a number of shots. This particular one I use my ASI1600MM camera with a Tele Vue 2x Barlow. I tried to not over-process things here. I actually did two sets of images, one for the main disk and a second with the gain increased to get the awesome proms that were visible today. The prom set would not stack but that's just a problem between the keyboard and the chair. I will do some research on how to get that to stack right and try again. For this, I just did a quick and dirty photoshop adjustment layer with a mask to block the disk and jacked up the brightness on the rim. Not great but it works. The disk is FAR more uniform this time. Me thinks the scope is probably fine. Nice clean and even detail across the disk. I did do a flat this time also which helped remove some dust motes, etc.

Thanks again to all the great feedback.

[ffellah]

This last image is great ! Well done !

Franco

[rsfoto]

Hi,

Your last image is excellent and IMHO you are quite in Band ...

Very well done.

[torsinadoc]

Excellent second image.

[MapleRidge]

Congrats on the new scope and the fine tuning has paid of o the later images...excellent full disk

Brian

[rigel123]

That disk looks awesome!

[marktownley]

There's nothing wrong with that scope now it's tuned - great image!

[Ivan]

Works great, beautiful and even picture!

Ivan

[Montana]

That's an absolutely cracking full disc and a fabulous real first light nothing wrong with that

Alexandra

[OneDegreeNorth]

Nice images with your new Lunt 80MT. It's really a nice scope isn't it? I have had mine for 5 month now and I really enjoy using it for visual (no imaging yet).

I also would like to share that my case was damaged as well during shipping, in the exact same spot. Lunt's blocking filters are built like a tank, puncturing the case right through.

I didn't bother to get a new case from Lunt because I store my 80MT in a Pelican case, which is easier to handle than the bulky aluminum case. My blocking filter did suffer some cosmetic damage. Lunt recommended to touch up using enamel paint. Fortunately, optical wise everything is in good shape.

I just hope Lunt puts more padding in the area behind the blocking filter so this will not occur.

Screenshot_20220128-112946__01.jpg (648.79 KiB) Viewed 233 times

Screenshot_20220128-113106__01.jpg (408.52 KiB) Viewed 233 times

[DeepSolar64]

Certainly tough. That's great! I bet it came UPS. I have always preferred Fedex because they seem to handle things better. That's my experience anyway. It seems fewer retailers use them to ship their products Vs UPS.

James