Calcium views August 14, 2022

[ffellah]

Hello all: this morning a one hour period of good seeing with the jetstream cooperating. I was inspired by recent postings of Alex H, that showed some amazing images including Calcium. I thought I would push the envelope a bit and try today the Evostar 150ED stopped down to 120mm, the CaH Quark, the PG174 and a 5x Powermate for the closeups. The full disk is a two image mosaic without any barlow but using the PG814 camera. This is the first time I have been able to use the 5x Powermate with some results.

Franco

[Montana]

Wow!!! absolutely fabulous Franco

Just take care with the exposure on the plage dots
Alexandra

[ffellah]

Thank you very much Alexandra: yes, I will pay more attention to exposure next time.

Franco

[MAURITS]

Lovely calcium II images Franco.

[marktownley]

These are super shots Franco!

[ffellah]

Thank you very much, Maurits and Mark, much appreciated. As Alexandra said, I have to keep an eye on exposure.

Franco

[Carbon60]

A super set, Franco. Very nice.

Stu.

[ffellah]

Thank you Stu.

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

You are an ace at this Calcium H stuff Franco! I hope you don’t mind me saving one for my records. Like any I would save I will credit you in the file name.



James.

[Dennis]

Thats great Franco, its always good to try sth new.
The results are good too.

[DeepSolar64]

Does the CaH Quark require the f30 focal ratio like the Ha Quark does?

[nicspenceryork]

Beautiful images Franco. I will always remember how you were posting amazing Calcium shots around the time I was dithering whether to go down the Calcium route or not and you definitely influenced me to go with it. Now I've used it, I'll never look back.
Thanks
Nic

[ffellah]

Thank you, Dennis, James and Nic, for your kind words. James: please have the image, I am very happy you want to keep it. Yes, Daystar recommends F/30 max for the CaH Quark: this time it was just over F/33 so I may adjust aperture next time to stay within F/30. Maybe that will improve things, this was the first try with this scope at this magnification with this filter. Nic: I am so glad you started Calcium. Your first results are wonderful and I am sure you will refine them to perfection.

Franco

[Martin_S]

Super crisp images Franco, thanks for sharing them with us.

[DeepSolar64]

Franco,

F30+ and you still easily get a full disc. Are you doing mosaics?

James

[eroel]

Franco:
Super images, thanks for sharing.
Best wishes.
Eric.

[marktownley]

Daystar recommends F/30 max for the CaH Quark: this time it was just over F/33 so I may adjust aperture next time to stay within F/30.

Don't worry about going over f30 franco, the longer the focal length the more contrast there will be.

[Petrus]

Excellent set of CaH images, Franco!

[ffellah]

Thank you Martin, Eric and Petrus for your comments. James: the full disk was done at the native F/8 focal length without a Barlow. With the PG 174 camera about 80% of the disk fits in, so you need a second image to complete the disk. I have to correct for the record: I seemed to remember that the Evostar 150 had a focal length of 800mm while in fact it is 1200mm. The closeups were then taken at F/50, not F/33+.

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

Thanks Franco, so the CaH Quark can be used under f30 like the Lunt modules can.

That EvoStar 150 is a nice scope!

James

[LeoD]

Very impressive session, Franco!
What are exposure and fps you had at f/50?

Leo

[ffellah]

Hi Leo: thank you. Here is the information on one of the .ser files. I will respond to your PM separately.

Franco

FireCapture v2.6 Settings
------------------------------------
Camera=Grasshopper3 GS3-U3-23S6M
Filter=R
Profile=Sun
Filename=Sun_081102.ser
Date=140822
Start=081058.290
Mid=081102.418
End=081106.546
Start(UT)=121058.290
Mid(UT)=121102.418
End(UT)=121106.546
Duration=8.256s
Date_format=ddMMyy
Time_format=HHmmss
LT=UT -5h
Frames captured=300
File type=SER
Binning=no
ROI=1920x1200
ROI(Offset)=0x0
FPS (avg.)=36
Shutter=27.47ms
Gain=0 (0%)
Sharpness=1024 (off)
SoftwareGain=10 (off)
AutoHisto=75 (off)
Brightness=120 (off)
AutoExposure=off
Exposure=512
Mode7=off
Gamma=1024 (off)
FPS=10.0 (off)
Histogramm(min)=775
Histogramm(max)=4036
Histogramm=98%
Noise(avg.deviation)=n/a
Limit=300 Frames
Sensor temperature=44.9°C

[torsinadoc]

These turned out really nice!

[ffellah]

Thank you Alan

Franco

[vineyard]

Your Ca full disks have always been great - looking fwd to seeing more closeups as well now.

[ffellah]

Thank you Vin ! I will try my best.

Franco

[arnedanielsen]

Beautiful CaH images, Franco! Great work!

Best regards,
Arne