Why my Quark always refused to work...

Use this section to discuss "standard" Baader/Coronado/ Lunt SolarView/ Daystar, etc… filters, cameras and scopes. No mods, just questions/ answers and reviews.
Post Reply
User avatar
krakatoa1883
Almost There...
Almost There...
Posts: 1041
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2016 9:41 am
Location: Mediolanum
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 496 times

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by krakatoa1883 »

Hi Magnus

Quark chromosphere is very demanding in terms of seeing due the strong amplification factor of the internal telecentric, you need a fairly still air to obtain some decent results. Try on the morning or in the evening within two hours from sunrise or sunset respectively.

As far the imaging technique is concerned you can find many discussions in this forum that can help you effectively. This article by Alexandra

https://solarnutcase.livejournal.com/18572.html

is an excellent starting point.

For H alpha I usually stack 300 - 400 frames out of 3000 by using of Autostakkert, the raw image is then processed in IMPPG or IRIS. Be careful to shield your monitor from direct daylight, it would actually need to be well in shadow otherwise accurate focusing becomes challenging.


Raf
My solar images and reports with articles on solar equipment
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: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by Radon86 »

Thank you! I am only getting about 50-70 images stacked so far. I will keep on working on this. Thanks for your encouragement, and useful advice, I appreviate it.

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
pawlik
The Sun?
The Sun?
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 6:57 pm
Location: EU (PL)
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by pawlik »

I had the same problem and the BF seemed to be fine, but when I looked closer with strong light, the problem has been found inside BF between two optical surfaces. The outside surfaces (reflective and red) were ok, but inside definetly somethiing wrong happend with optical layers. Hard to say if it`s typical filter degradation from concentrated ligh beam or just a mould. Replacing the filter solved the problem.
Attachments
BFQ.jpg
BFQ.jpg (167.11 KiB) Viewed 2036 times


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42269
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10242 times
Contact:

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by marktownley »

My quark blocker died too. I believe this will happen with all quarks over time, and will be exacerbated without proper ERF use.


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!
fedele
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu May 27, 2021 10:34 am
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 133 times

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by fedele »

I only say one thing .....
Why on earth should I accept that is normal that a Quark that costs 1300 euros can be not good?
Likewise, is Daystar willing to accept that some of my money is not good?
Last edited by fedele on Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.


User avatar
rsfoto
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6159
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:30 pm
Location: San Luis Potosi, México
Has thanked: 9401 times
Been thanked: 5559 times

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by rsfoto »

Why on earth should I accept that a Quark unit is not good?
Hi,

You do not need to accept it.

For starting just do not buy one :lol: and if you bought one and it does not work send it back and tell them you want to have your money back.

I did it and got my money back but even worse ...

What about you bought a PE 0.4Å QUANTUM from Daystar and it does not work and you paid US $ 12,500.00 ¿? After placing the order you need to wait 3-4 months for delivery, then want to use and find out it does not work, send it back, get no info what is going on unless you bug them every 2-3 weeks and finally they send you a test report telling you the PE 0.4Å QUANTUM is blind and for all that a full year passes by ¿?

Yes, I also got my US $ 12,500.00 back ...

And the purchase was done after chatting personally with the owner for 4 or 5 hours on a NEAF show and finally convinced you to spend US $ 12,500.00 and then find out it is blind ¿?

Never ever again a piece of poop from Daystar ... :mad:

Rant over ... :lol:


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
fedele
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 78
Joined: Thu May 27, 2021 10:34 am
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 133 times

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by fedele »

i want to know another thing.

The Baader SunDancer II, looks similar to Quark. These prodcus also have the same quality problems?


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42269
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10242 times
Contact:

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by marktownley »

fedele wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 8:49 am Why on earth should I accept that is normal that a Quark that costs 1300 euros can be not good?
At the end of the day, solar is not cheap at all. The Quark is pretty much their budget piece of kit, the only way they can do it that 'cheap' is cutting costs by sacrificing repeatability of quality. Soft coated filters are considerably cheaper than hard coated filters - soft coated fail due to thermal loading, hard coated don't. Quarks have no quoted bandwidth - this means Daystar can just churn them out regardless of the quality of the mica used.


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
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42269
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20424 times
Been thanked: 10242 times
Contact:

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by marktownley »

fedele wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:22 pm The Baader SunDancer II, looks similar to Quark. These prodcus also have the same quality problems?
They superficially look similar but are quite different beasts. The baader uses etalons from solar spectrum (the worlds best) and hard coated filters. Even then there are compromises - no TEC cooling, small etalons. Baader is hard coated filters so unlikely to fail after decades of use, whereas soft coated filters can fail after a few years.


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

Re: Why my Quark always refused to work...

Post by Radon86 »

krakatoa1883 wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 7:12 pm Finally the new BF from Andover arrived and indeed it made a huge difference, so my Quark is now returned as new. I am very happy because the etalon of my unit is good and very uniform and a degraded BF made it almost useless. The replacement BF also totally cured the problems I had with front ERFs and I can now use of my Baader D-ERF without image degradation.

I wonder what the reason might have been why the original BF degraded. I examined it under my stereo microscope without noting anomalies on any of the surfaces. I think of a possibile overheating while inadvertently using it without ERF.

The following is an image of today (2019-06-28) E limb with my Skywatcher 72ED, Baader 35nm filter as ERF and Quark. It was so hot that my Quark got tuned without current :lol:
andover new.jpg
thermo.jpg

While waiting for the replacement I made some experiments by using of a Baader 3.5nm H-alpha filter in place of the defective BF. Well, for prominences it worked fine, it actually transformed the chromosphere Quark into a prominence one, which is very useful for faint features.
2019-06-16-1253-RB-Halpha-flame.jpg
2019-06-14-0815-RB-Halpha-proms.jpg
Hello Krakatoa1883,

Where did you place the 3.5nm h alpha filter? What size filter?
I would like to get a prominence view like you as well, surprised that this was possible.
Maybe a moderator can make a new topic for this, or has this already been discussed elsewhere.

Thanks,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
Post Reply