June 7th Session

[MapleRidge]

Good day everyone...

Finally a sunny Sunday that I didn't have to work, so I got to spend some time at the scope The bonus was the new activity that graced the disk and made a worthy target to image and experiment on! I would like to spend more time processing these, but time is scarce so I'm posting what I have managed to do so far.

The seeing was average as I began, but slowly deteriorated as the fields adjacent to the observatory heated in the sun, but the crops are now growing well and the daytime heating should moderate in the coming weeks.The first images are the full disk shots, starting with the Ha through the LS80T/DSII/B1800Ha and the ZWO174mm camera:

LS80T_SSHa_10_57_59-ASI.jpg (471.21 KiB) Viewed 796 times

The next two are through the i-Star 150mm, f8 scope using a Lunt solar wedge/Baader Continuum filter for WL and a modified Lunt solar wedge/B1800CaK/Baader K-Line filer set for the CaK disk:

IS__WL_09_47_14-IMP-B.jpg (499.36 KiB) Viewed 796 times

LS80T_SSHa_10_57_59-ASI-B.jpg (449.77 KiB) Viewed 796 times

The next series of images are CaK through the same filter sets as the full disk, but with a 3x tele-extender ahead of the camera to boost the resolution on the first image and a 2x for the second two shots:

3x_IS_CaKK_10_10_35.jpg (922.33 KiB) Viewed 796 times

3x_IS_CaKK_10_03_52.jpg (880.06 KiB) Viewed 796 times

3x_IS_CaKK_10_04_45.jpg (850.22 KiB) Viewed 796 times

The image below was through the modded CR-150/DSII/B1800Ha scope, with the pressure in the DSII etalon set to 0 PSI for the deep red continuum image:

3x_CR150_DSII_12_06_57-IMP.jpg (384.91 KiB) Viewed 796 times

The pressure was then adjusted to 15PSI to get the Ha detail in AR2765:

AR_CR-150-DSII.jpg (191.74 KiB) Viewed 795 times

I had time to setup the on-going PST mod trial on the C9.25 Edge, but since this was tried near the end of the session in the poorer seeing the results were not the best...still a work in progress:

AR_C9-PST.jpg (475.48 KiB) Viewed 795 times

I apologize for the image quality on some of the posts...hope to be able to have more time soon!

Questions and comments are always welcome,
Brian

[JochenM]

Good to hear that you managed to get another session in, Brian. Excellent results as well.

How do you check/control the pressure in the tuner btw? You have the Lunt USB control unit or you built something yourself?

[DeepSolar64]

You got those little extensions on the spot's umbra. I picked those up visually in my C102 with the Altair Herschel Wedge.

[Montana]

Fabulous Brian, glad you have finally managed a break to have a good time in the sunshine. An excellent set all round

Out of interest how tall is your sweetcorn now? ours are still only 12 inches tall in the fields but I remember ours were at least a month ahead of yours at the beginning. I am wondering if yours are catching up and overtaking.

Alexandra

[marios i.]

Excellent work Brian.

[MapleRidge]

My thanks to everyone for your comments and feedback...always appreciated

Alexandra, our corn is coming nicely but I wouldn't put any at a foot high yet. If we get another round of hot weather it will jump to be knee high in a week or so.

Brian

[EGRAY_OBSERVATORY]

Hi Brian,
My fav image of yours is the multiple Sun-spot collection. So clear and explains what AR2765 was all about.

Thanks
Terry

[John]

Lovely set of images. I would be interested to know the make of tele-extenders that you used for the CaK images.

John

[ffellah]

Hey Brian: these are truly excellent. I can tell you had the time and peace to shoot a nice session.

Franco

[Carbon60]

You've had a busy session, Brian, with excellent results.

Very nice.

Stu.

[MapleRidge]

Terry, John, Franco, and Stu...

Thanks for your feedback on the images

John, I have a set of Explore Scientific extenders...2x and 3x in both 1.25" and 2". The 1.25" versions were used on these images. The Ha was actually imaged through a 2.7x tele-centric from Airy Labs, but I forgot and put the wrong amplification factor in the description. I haven't tried it in CaK or WL yet...it's all threaded fittings at both ends and doesn't interface with the Lunt wedges very easily. Might make it work with a few SCT and T-thread adapter rings...a project for the end of 16hr work days

Brian

[yltansg]

Hi Brian,

Great shots of FDs and close-ups in both HA and CAK.

Good to hear that the sweet corn are growing well.

Alfred

[MapleRidge]

Thanks Alfred!!!

Brian

[MapleRidge]

Jochen...

Sorry, I missed your question about the pressure adjustments and yes, I am using the Lunt USB Remote Tuner.

Brian

[eroel]

Brian:
A really beautiful session, super images.
Keep well my friend.
Eric.

[MapleRidge]

Thanks Eric

Best wishes for you and your family to stay safe as well.

Brian