Sun @ 120mm 4th April

this is the main message area for anything solar :)
Post Reply
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20437 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by marktownley »

I'm really pleased with my new pier; realised today I could be out setup and observing just an hour after sunrise, and with MeteoBlue predicting 1" seeing I decided to gamble. I started off with CaK at 100mm and this was working ok, so decided to go for 120mm @ f28 with the IMX174 camera. First off in CaK, then as I could see the seeing rolling off I switched to the more seeing friendly Ha.

Imagenew-plage-cak-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imagenew-plage-cak-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-plage-Ha-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-plage-Ha-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imageold-plage-cak-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Imageold-plage-cak-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageOld-plage-ha-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageOld-plage-ha-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-AR-Cak-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-AR-Cak-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-AR-Ha-120-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageNew-AR-Ha-120-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr

Not much done with these apart from a sharpen in ImPPG and some colour in PS. The Ha was with the Quark, the CaK with a triple stack sortie of CaK PST filters (it's first outing) - they definitely aren't configured right here as the chromospheric fringe is gone, and all it gave me over DS CaK is increased exposure time. With clear skies all day I did settle on a TS CaK configuration that gave improved results, but by then I was running at 60mm ~f40 with the drop in seeing. I will get these processed, but after completely running after disk space my laptop has been whirring away stacking for several hours now.

Today was nice weather 15c and blue skies, and after imaging enjoyed just looking for several hours visually with the DS90 watching the subtle changes of our star all afternoon. All good fun! More images to come, but I have to process them!

Mark


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
rsfoto
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6163
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:30 pm
Location: San Luis Potosi, México
Has thanked: 9412 times
Been thanked: 5573 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Mark,

Well done.


regards Rainer

Observatorio Real de 14
San Luis Potosi Mexico

North 22° West 101°
User avatar
arnedanielsen
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 7285
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:42 pm
Location: Vestby, Norway
Has thanked: 6181 times
Been thanked: 7142 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by arnedanielsen »

Beautiful work Mark!

Best regards,
Arne


Best regards,
Arne
--
AstroBin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/arnedani/
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20437 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks guys, here's the full disk taken at 60mm f16

ImageCaK-FD-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageCaK-FD-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr


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: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by Radon86 »

Good work, Mark !
Very impressive. You have a good setup and obviously very knowledgeable and skilful.
Can you clarify, please, how your CaK setup is ? I thought you would need a Daystar Quark CaK eyepiece filter ? Are there other setups for CaK. Sorry I am not very knowledgeable in CaK imaging.

Not sure where your pier is, but it looks like its working for you.

Clear skies.
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
EGRAY_OBSERVATORY
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 6871
Joined: Mon May 18, 2020 4:45 pm
Location: Essex, S.E.England
Been thanked: 4900 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Very well done, Mark and yes of course, early morning seeing is usually better than later-on, but I at least like my ZZZZ's even though occasionally i will work through the night on something and then get out to the observatory for that early-time.

Thanks for describing and sharing.

Terry


User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11172
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9145 times
Been thanked: 6025 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by ffellah »

A very nice set, Mark. The Ha images came out really well.

Franco


DavidP
Im an EXPERT!
Im an EXPERT!
Posts: 429
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:25 pm
Location: Austin Texas
Has thanked: 146 times
Been thanked: 277 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by DavidP »

Nice images Mark.
The Calcium are especially sharp


User avatar
Martin_S
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1839
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:34 am
Location: Brisbane , Australia
Has thanked: 979 times
Been thanked: 2992 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by Martin_S »

Wow the hi res Cak is amazing Mark, what 120mm scope did you use?.

Martin


H alpha : ,Skywatcher 120mm F8 open frame refractor, a tilted 2" 7nm H-alpha filter as a sub energy rejection filter, Baader TZ4 telecentric focal extender, Player One energy rejection filter, Combo Quark Chromosphere, Naked PST etalon for double stacking, ASI74mm camera
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16694 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I am glad you got some sun-time today. Nice images too!


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
JochenM
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 2839
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:26 pm
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 1200 times
Been thanked: 1619 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by JochenM »

Nice shots, Mark.

Will be interesting to see what you manage to squueze out of that TS CaK with a bit of tinkering (that's the fun part).


Jochen Maes
Belgium
https://www.jochenmaes.com
User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14209
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8418 times
Been thanked: 8162 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by Carbon60 »

A beautiful set of images, Mark.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20437 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks everyone!

Yes Jochen, it will be fun to experiment with the TS CaK, at the moment i'm not seeing a huge difference between DS Cak, just the whites are brighter and the surface seems slightly darker and slightly more textured. I seem to have lost the chromospheric fringe too. This comes at the expense of more gain needed to keep exposure short. I need to experiment with the tuning more and also play around with the order of the filters in the stack too.

Magnus, my CaK filter is one of my own construction, using Edmunds Optics filters for blockers and filters from CaK PSTs, for the closeup images this filter combo sits behind an f28 telecentric beam. All the scopes I use for CaK work are achro refractors either working at native f10 or stopped down to give me f10.

Martin, the scope is a Bresser 127/1200 refractor, stopped down to 120mm. For narrowband solar it is a bit of bargain. I may try it at full 127mm aperture for Ha next time the seeing is playing ball, but this will give the Quark a slightly faster f-ratio to work with so potentially a trade off.

In the mean time, here's the image of AR12813, same as above, but processed with the NAFE software (see the image processing section), it certainly gives more texture compared to the ImPPG view, still cant make my mind up about it...

ImageAR12813-Ha-120-NAFE by Mark Townley, on Flickr


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: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20437 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by marktownley »

And yesterdays Ha full disk with the DS50...

ImageHa-FD-DS-bw by Mark Townley, on Flickr

ImageHa-FD-DS-colour by Mark Townley, on Flickr


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
Stardust5858
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1500
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:44 am
Has thanked: 803 times
Been thanked: 1182 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by Stardust5858 »

Brilliant you got your pier sorted out, so much easier for you now. Great you managed to get some data too. Cak looking good. There was an interesting filaprome too. I too managed to get some cak and ha but not processed any yet, lol. Thanks for sharing Mark.


10ft x 6ft Solar RoR with Warm Room
Lunt 60mm Double Stack HA
80ed WL+ Lunt Hershal Wedge + Badder K-Line filter.
100mm AR + Lunt b1800 Ca-K module.
Neq6 Eq Mount.

2.7m Pulsar Dome.
11in Celestron SCT + White Light Filter.
70mm AR Stellavue.
12inch OO Newtonian.
Eq8 r Pro Mount.
User avatar
DeepSolar64
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 18823
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:19 am
Location: Lowndesville S.C.
Has thanked: 17572 times
Been thanked: 16694 times

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Mark,
Your Ha view pretty much matched my visual view yesterday. Nice work.

James.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

Image Visual Observer
" Way more fun to see it! "
User avatar
MAURITS
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 8507
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2018 4:37 pm
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 2412 times
Been thanked: 4786 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by MAURITS »

A lot of beautiful work Mark.


Regards,
Maurits

Vista del Cielo Observatory

www.vistadelcielo.be
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: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by krakatoa1883 »

Fine images, great CaK detail.


Raf
My solar images and reports with articles on solar equipment
User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42272
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20437 times
Been thanked: 10245 times
Contact:

Re: Sun @ 120mm 4th April

Post by marktownley »

Thanks folks for your kind comments!


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!
Post Reply