Search found 1054 matches
- Thu Mar 21, 2024 7:20 pm
- Forum: Total Solar Eclipse April 8 2024
- Topic: Test image with my wide-angle rig.
- Replies: 4
- Views: 133
Re: Test image with my wide-angle rig.
I'm planning on taking photos of the eclipse with an Askar FMA 180 (40mm aperture, 180mm focal length) with an APS-C crop sensor. That should give an extremely wide field of view (corona is likely going to be bigger than in 2017). My plan is to put it on a Vixen Polarie. I chose the FMA 180 because ...
- Thu Mar 14, 2024 1:45 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: New telescope ~400mm focal length for SHG
- Replies: 22
- Views: 2280
Re: New telescope ~400mm focal length for SHG
To revisit this old topic, I recently got an Askar 65PHQ for another project (eclipse related) and it occurred to me that it is a good choice for SolEx. The focal length is 416mm and the focal ration is f/6.4. Christian Buil has used the similarly designed 80PHQ and 107PHQ (actually the identical ZW...
- Tue Feb 27, 2024 5:32 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: i got new mount SHG Ha
- Replies: 5
- Views: 302
- Fri Feb 23, 2024 5:09 pm
- Forum: Total Solar Eclipse April 8 2024
- Topic: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2526
Re: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
We've continued to improve our gravitational deflection software (hence a recent pause in new releases of our SHG software). I'll include here a link that describes the newest MEE2024 software package: https://groups.io/g/MEE2024/message/1318
- Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:40 am
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: i got new mount SHG Ha
- Replies: 5
- Views: 302
Re: i got new mount SHG Ha
I think AM3 is a good choice. What speeds can you can with?
- Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:27 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: question for "thesmiths"
- Replies: 4
- Views: 213
Re: question for "thesmiths"
maybe in future versions you can save pre processed image. that gives user to apply his own treatments for weird cases. The intermediate steps can be saved as FITS files. Turn on "Save fits files" and also read the README for how to use the software: https://github.com/thelondonsmiths/Sol...
- Sat Feb 10, 2024 1:40 am
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: question for "thesmiths"
- Replies: 4
- Views: 213
Re: question for "thesmiths"
v4.3 software fails cause it is looking for a dark line, any way out? I'm not exactly sure why you would want to do this, but one easy way out is to simply invert the levels of the SER file. You can do this, for example, with SER Player and then save the processed frames as another SER file. I have...
- Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:33 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Using Sol'Ex with Lunt Etalon
- Replies: 3
- Views: 213
Re: Using Sol'Ex with Lunt Etalon
You can do something similar with a CaK filter to characterise it, or to tune it better if it's a home brew filter. Both Christian Viladrich and I have posted a few examples of using the Solex type of spectrometer for this purpose.
- Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:50 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'ex - first pics - 19th Jan
- Replies: 8
- Views: 434
Re: Sol'ex - first pics - 19th Jan
Focus is not easy but eventually you will get better results. Try to focus the spectra lines first and then the scope The video Pedro mentions from C. Buil is a good demonstration how to focus. But I should mention it is now fairly old so I would point out that Christian no longer puts a micrometer...
- Sun Feb 04, 2024 5:12 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Here is a rather nice Ca-H image taken from Australia on the morning of 2 Feb. Maurice says: "My best seeing seems to occur around 8am to 9am... My solar scintillation monitor told me my seeing was varying between about 1.9 and 2.6 arcsec." This image is worth opening up in a new tab to ex...
- Thu Feb 01, 2024 7:31 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
I think I will not be doing any further imaging myself until March. In the meantime, here are some more nice images taken from Australia on the morning (local time) of 27 January. I think the Ca-K looks particularly good. 260124_Ha_am_11frames_full2.jpg 260124_Hb_am_5frames_full.jpg 260124_CaK_6fram...
- Thu Feb 01, 2024 7:26 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
- Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:01 pm
- Forum: Total Solar Eclipse April 8 2024
- Topic: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2526
Re: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
Now that is science!! The equipment is just the start. My son and I have reused some of our SHG image reconstruction code to develop a gravitational defection software suite. We are still in the middle of development but so far the results look quite good. In 2017, using older CCD cameras and with ...
- Sun Jan 28, 2024 1:55 pm
- Forum: Total Solar Eclipse April 8 2024
- Topic: Is it worth going to Niagara Falls, Ontario for April 8 or will it be too cloudy?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 2774
Re: Is it worth going to Niagara Falls, Ontario for April 8 or will it be too cloudy?
My shot in Wyoming 2017: Montage eclipse 2017-couronne.jpg Hi Daniel, did you post somewhere how you made your montage? If it's not too difficult, I may try to do something like that (from Texas). I was thinking of using an Askar FMA180 with an APS-C mirrorless camera (very light and simple but goo...
- Sun Jan 28, 2024 1:44 pm
- Forum: Total Solar Eclipse April 8 2024
- Topic: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2526
Re: Anyone going to try to measure the bending of starlight?
I haven't posted to this thread in a long time so I thought I would give an update. Here is my most recent equipment setup that I plan to use: 1821.jpg 1822.jpg I am using a ZWO 294MM camera, along with a ZWO EAF focuser. I also got a Williams Optics Bahtinov mask to aid with focusing on stars (it's...
- Sat Jan 20, 2024 5:42 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Here is the latest image from down under. Data collected late in the day between 17:30 and 18:00 local time on January 17.
- Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:58 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Solex Shelyak dust on slit?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 318
Re: Solex Shelyak dust on slit?
The dust is more than desirable but likely the transversalium can be automatically removed in software. As Pedro says, I would just use a Giotto type Rocket air blower (or the Player One cameras come with a nice little blower). I actually find a little dust to be helpful to make sure the collimator ...
- Wed Jan 03, 2024 8:48 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Here is a rather spectacular image taken on 31 Dec 2023, showing the very bright X5 solar flare.
- Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:03 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol’Ex Spectroheliograph | FS60C F/5.9 | ASI178MM (20231226)
- Replies: 5
- Views: 461
Re: Sol’Ex Spectroheliograph | FS60C F/5.9 | ASI178MM (20231226)
How big a video file size did you have as a result? I watched the YouTube video. The file size used was around 1.8 GB. In FireCapture, the FPS was 15. The number of frames was 2448 (dimensions 2432 x 152 pixels). This means the time for the scan was 163 seconds. Since the Y/X ratio was close to 1.0...
- Mon Dec 25, 2023 6:25 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Since we in the northern hemisphere have limited solar visibility (winter Solstice!), I attach a new image from Maurice taken in Australia. Taken in the morning of Christmas Eve, local time. Best 12 of 25 scans stacked in AS!3 then deconvolution with Astrosurface. Seeing was quite good, estimated at...
- Sun Dec 24, 2023 6:08 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol’ex kit has arrived
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2027
Re: Sol’ex kit has arrived
The H-alpha line is quite broad due to the fine structure splitting of the line. The splitting is equivalent to approximately 0.16 angstrom. This suggests to me that around 0.2 angstrom spectral resolution is about all that you need for normal H-alpha imaging. The imaging of H-alpha Doppler effects ...
- Fri Dec 22, 2023 3:06 am
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Maurice sent me a recent image (21-11-2023) taken with good seeing from Oz. This is 10 frames from 20 scans, stacked with AS!3, then treatment with Astrosurface. It looks quite perfect to me.
- Sun Dec 17, 2023 2:17 am
- Forum: Sunlit Earth
- Topic: Moon detail Crater Clavius with flawless 80mm F7.5 refractor
- Replies: 6
- Views: 396
- Fri Dec 15, 2023 3:09 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex DIY
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1618
Re: Sol'Ex DIY
Great suggestion. The thickness of this slit chrome plating is about 400nm. It is made of K9 material, which may be one of the reasons for its low price. Adding UV/IR to the front-end is a good idea, and I will continue to try it next time. I found an eBay seller who would also send me this same sl...
- Wed Dec 13, 2023 5:24 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex DIY
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1618
Re: Sol'Ex DIY
Here is the link to purchase glass slits: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a21n57.1.0.0.10a7523c9duhHv&id=700716949946&ns=1&abbucket=18#detail Advantages: The gap is very narrow and the gap is very long. The disadvantage is that the outer size of the glass slit is relatively small. ...
- Tue Dec 12, 2023 8:38 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol’ex kit has arrived
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2027
Re: Sol’ex kit has arrived
An updated and improved printed version is available from here : https://azur3dprintshop.com/9-solex-base.html The optical parts are available from here : https://www.shelyak.com/produit/kit-optique-solex/?lang=en The improved version from Azur Print is actually not the link above. Go to https://az...
- Tue Dec 12, 2023 3:37 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex DIY
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1618
Re: Sol'Ex DIY
Some more suggestions for your nice design: You can eliminate the guiding part and make an "imaging only" version. For this version, the slit could be mounted perpendicular, which might help to keep the focal plane constant across the whole solar image. It would also be worth changing from...
- Mon Dec 11, 2023 12:26 am
- Forum: SPoD Archive
- Topic: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Ca K Alluxa filters and top seeing / 29 sept
- Replies: 20
- Views: 960
Re: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Ca K Alluxa filters and top seeing / 29 sept
I use a variant of Sol'ex. See top of this page : http://astrosurf.com/viladrich/astro/instrument/spectro/Solex/Solex.html I use 200 mm focal length collimating and imaging lenses (instead of shorter focal length in the original version) for better spectral resolution in Ca K. It is rather easy to ...
- Mon Dec 11, 2023 12:26 am
- Forum: This is SolarChat !!
- Topic: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Alluxa Ca K filters and top seeing / 29 sept
- Replies: 30
- Views: 2198
Re: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Ca K Alluxa filters and top seeing / 29 sept
I use a variant of Sol'ex. See top of this page : http://astrosurf.com/viladrich/astro/instrument/spectro/Solex/Solex.html I use 200 mm focal length collimating and imaging lenses (instead of shorter focal length in the original version) for better spectral resolution in Ca K. It is rather easy to ...
- Sun Dec 10, 2023 2:18 am
- Forum: SPoD Archive
- Topic: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Ca K Alluxa filters and top seeing / 29 sept
- Replies: 20
- Views: 960
- Sun Dec 10, 2023 2:18 am
- Forum: This is SolarChat !!
- Topic: HR Ca K images with single/double/triple stack Alluxa Ca K filters and top seeing / 29 sept
- Replies: 30
- Views: 2198
- Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:14 pm
- Forum: This is SolarChat !!
- Topic: Belated August 19th images taken with the 300 mm Newtonian and G-band filter
- Replies: 16
- Views: 854
Re: Belated August 19th images taken with the 300 mm Newtonian and G-band filter
With regards to the solar scintillation monitor: would you say that the images are representative of the minimum values (e.g. 0.54, 0.47, 0.37 arcsec) or more like the average values? The Rayleigh criterion for the 300mm optics is around 0.36 arcsec at 430nm -- do you think you are quite close to th...
- Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:30 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex (20231202) | ZWO ASI178MM
- Replies: 3
- Views: 358
Re: Sol'Ex (20231202) | ZWO ASI178MM
Hi Pedro, I think the IMX178 sensor helps. Your files are extremely large considering the spatial resolution possible with the 2-inch aperture. At what speed are you scanning your mount? In FireCapture you can reduce the FPS independent of the exposure time to slow down the acquisition. The ROI is a...
- Tue Nov 28, 2023 1:30 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
- Replies: 52
- Views: 5470
Re: The Big SHG from Down Under -- Maurice's 100mm f/9
Maurice sent me two new images he took today (in Melbourne, Australia) with his 100mm aperture SHG. He said there were some high clouds but at least he's got some sun (unlike many of us in the northern hemisphere). He's currently testing out the new mounting method for my chrome on quartz slits; so ...
- Fri Nov 24, 2023 6:27 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex DIY
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1618
Re: Sol'Ex DIY
Thank you for posting more photos of your interesting setup. My experience with the C8 SE mount (with the single arm) is that it does not move very smoothly. It is really only for visual use. It was not even possible to use it for taking video images of bright planets like Jupiter because it jumped ...
- Thu Nov 23, 2023 4:13 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Sol'Ex DIY
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1618
Re: Sol'Ex DIY
It looks like a very nice modified design. I agree that having internal helical threads for the lenses is a good idea. The weakness of the Solex is the sliding mechanism for focusing the collimator lens. You say you used the Celestron 8SE. I assume you mean that was the mount (not the telescope). So...
- Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:59 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Custom-made fused quartz slits for SHG -- 9 micron x 12 mm
- Replies: 15
- Views: 2763
Re: Custom-made fused quartz slits for SHG -- 9 micron x 12 mm
All the 9 micron wide slits are now gone. But I will shortly be making a second batch of quartz slits, which will likely be 8 micron wide. You can send me a private message regarding the new batch.
- Thu Nov 16, 2023 12:03 am
- Forum: Commercial Solar Filters/Cameras/Hardware
- Topic: ZWO Black Friday sale
- Replies: 1
- Views: 302
- Wed Nov 15, 2023 2:50 am
- Forum: Commercial Solar Filters/Cameras/Hardware
- Topic: Player One promotion
- Replies: 1
- Views: 372
Player One promotion
I was emailing with Player One recently and received this reply: Dear Douglas, Thank you so much for your email. We will have a promotion in this month. I think Black Friday will be a good time to get a discount. ________________________________________ Sean Wang CEO | Player One Astronomy Company w...
- Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:26 am
- Forum: This is SolarChat !!
- Topic: Testing complete
- Replies: 6
- Views: 460
Re: Testing complete
In the very nice top photo, when it says arcsec, do you mean arcsec/pixel? Or you do mean Rayleigh criterion for the aperture?cybermayberry wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 12:12 am No real surprises, just what one should expect given the aperture. Seeing was excellent this AM.
- Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:19 am
- Forum: This is SolarChat !!
- Topic: Saturday Sunshine 11th November
- Replies: 21
- Views: 1030
Re: Saturday Sunshine 11th November
the 12v battery on the EQ6 on the pier has finally died, I knew it was on it's way out, but seems last time I forgot to turn the mount off and it drained the battery completely flat, and now, no matter how hard I try it won't recharge. I had to change out the lead battery in my rechargeable power s...
- Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:59 am
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Today's SUN (20231113) | FS60C + Sol'Ex
- Replies: 2
- Views: 289
Re: Today's SUN (20231113) | FS60C + Sol'Ex
I have to say that I'm still struggling to get decent results with my Sol'Ex. Hi Pedro, I noticed in a different post you said you were struggling with the Solex. A minor improvement can be achieved with a camera with the slightly smaller pixels than the 174MM. It turns out the best camera sensor t...
- Tue Nov 14, 2023 12:35 am
- Forum: Solar Reference Library
- Topic: Impact of Ca K filter band pass on the visibility of filaments / comparison with SHG
- Replies: 26
- Views: 2126
Re: Impact of Ca K filter band pass on the visibility of filaments / comparison with SHG
Even though we as amateurs probably never reach this crazy 0.12A bandwidth, I would suggest to shift this thread to the reference library. Very useful stuff here, if someone builds a super-high-(spectral)-res SHG in the future. Actually, I've calculated it would be quite straightforward to achieve ...
- Wed Nov 08, 2023 10:21 pm
- Forum: Commercial Solar Filters/Cameras/Hardware
- Topic: Some Chinese 400nm filters
- Replies: 4
- Views: 437
Re: Some Chinese 400nm filters
I imagine that for a large diameter, the optical flatness needs to be a lot better (in terms of nm per cm) in order for the wavefront not to be distorted.marktownley wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:50 pm my experience of them was they performed much better in the focal plane rather than ahead of the objective.
- Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:47 pm
- Forum: Commercial Solar Filters/Cameras/Hardware
- Topic: Some Chinese 400nm filters
- Replies: 4
- Views: 437
Re: Some Chinese 400nm filters
I was told me someone (Thierry G.) that the diffraction gratings are very good, equal to Edmund Optics. But he said the lenses are not so great. The 60mm 400nm filter could be front mounted on a telescope.
- Wed Nov 08, 2023 5:32 pm
- Forum: Commercial Solar Filters/Cameras/Hardware
- Topic: Some Chinese 400nm filters
- Replies: 4
- Views: 437
Some Chinese 400nm filters
I was looking for some low-cost diffraction gratings and found an optics supplier in China that has some interesting stuff. I'll probably order a diffraction grating from them since it's about half the cost of those from Thorlabs and Edmund Optics (they have 2400 l/mm, 1800 l/mm and 3600 l/mm in var...
- Wed Nov 08, 2023 10:37 am
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Probably my last SHG image for 2023
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1986
Re: Probably my last SHG image for 2023
That's a very nice comparison. It confirms my impression that 80mm SHG gives results similar to 60mm DS at H-alpha.
- Mon Nov 06, 2023 4:34 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: Baader Vario Finder + Sol'EX
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1792
Re: Baader Vario Finder + Sol'EX
Hi Pedro, it's a good first attempt with the Baader Vario Finder. The Y/X ratio is way off from the target of 1.0 -- were you just using the motion of the sun rather than scanning the mount? In FireCapture, you can change the FPS independent of exposure to reduce the number of frames. I can also sug...
- Wed Nov 01, 2023 1:43 pm
- Forum: Solar Scope Modifications
- Topic: Easy Peasy PST Mod
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1281
Re: Easy Peasy PST Mod
This interesting configuration could in principle also be used for the CaK PST. The 40mm optics is not as much of a limiting factor at the shorter wavelength, but it's probably a quick and easy way to get 70mm to 80mm aperture. The CaK PST has a quite nice bandwidth (I think a little better than the...
- Mon Oct 30, 2023 2:30 pm
- Forum: Solar Radio, Magnetometry and Spectroscopy
- Topic: caH with 3200lpmm grating and solex
- Replies: 5
- Views: 883