Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Interesting, I can tell you a little history about your Quark.

It is a matched 'twin' to mine; way back in 2014 the idea was set up to do 'the worlds largest solar image', this was to take place at the Hertsmonceaux Astronomy festival in the september that year. The Quarks hadn't long been out and Daystar sponsored the event along with Rupert Smith from Astrograph. There was myself, Gary Palmer, Steve Collingwood and Pete Lawrence (S@N) involved too. Daystar supplied 4 matched quarks (as uniformity was key) - 2 chromosphere models and 2 prominence models. After the event I bought one of the chromosphere models and Gary Palmer had the other, not sure where the 2 prom quarks ended up. I've kept hold of mine, Gary had his for a couple of years and it was reviewed for S@N, then it was sold on, I think I clocked it came up for sale on FB where you bought it? Anyway, its a very good Quark, seriously keep hold of it made with PE grade mica. Anyhooo, some pictures...
10687239_10153141623267067_287302158766871100_o.jpg
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Setting up.
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10630564_10153141620867067_4925022649025285466_o.jpg (375.41 KiB) Viewed 9235 times
More setting up...
10635706_10204348359845839_4877362178414082167_n.jpg
10635706_10204348359845839_4877362178414082167_n.jpg (96.74 KiB) Viewed 9235 times
Gary and Pete imaging...
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10549842_10153141529242067_7738297736571877078_o.jpg (261.94 KiB) Viewed 9235 times
The team, L to R, Steve, Gary, Pete, Rupert, Me

Oh, and the world record image - it went cloudy :D :D :D


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I did buy it off Facebook. Lucky happenstance I noticed the Ad.

Fortunately another one on Facebook I said I would buy when a guy came back from holiday fell through, though it had good images posted.

I need to lock it away then.

By happenstance my matching MN78 appeared on Sky at Night for a Venus transit, Jamie? Cooper.

Thanks. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi,

Thursday I was out.

I have been asking on CN for eyepiece advice for a 18mm as I ought to be able to get more magnification out of the M180.

I then realised I had not remove a 2.5x GPC from the Baader T2 diagonal so I was negating the Macro lens reduction.

I had to go to another 49mm macro lens with 49-48 adapters on both end in an extension tube chain just outside the focusser to get a reduced image. Not sure about quality yet.

I seem to be seeing what definite proms which are there with the Quark. But flat in terms of contrast but small aperture.

Unfortunately some bugs got in the diagonal and died on the back of the prism and as they are acidic Rod says etched a spot right near the middle. Bright spray of light. I wonder if a claim would work? As its sealed how would one get in after it was made?

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Does it have to be 18mm? Astroboot has a few options at 20mm. https://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot/t ... eedle=1.25

Not good about the bugs!


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

AstroRod sourced me a simple binoviewer with 50mm simple eyepieces.
He said that his Zeiss binoviewer has tilting issues on solar as I recall.
I have to take the 2" nose piece off the Carl Zeiss research (Big Maxbright) he modded to 1.25" for me and put it on the simple binoviewer.

On CN people said binoviewing is best on solar.

See how they work.

I can try the 90mm Quark reducer set up on the M180 as it is, as I am then near to F30. F7 x 4.2.
Compare PST Mod2 with the Quark for visual.
From Valerys post about his imaging setup using the M180 at native Fno should be good.

Rod is getting better images with his Zeiss reduced to F7.5 ish than the donor 60DS native mode. Not surprisingly.

Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi,

Yesterday I tried the small rectangular 45Deg 23.2mm bino viewers AstroRod modified to 2" for me.

In the M180 the 5x showed the whole Sun with the one prom visible, nice and sharp. With the 16x perhaps a bit too much.
The surface mottling seemed better. And the background a bit darker.
I have ordered a pair of 10x / 18mm from China, which was the higher magnification I wanted to try.
So I am a convert to binos for the Sun.

Tried on the VMC110. Darker background and just the one PST reflection over the image.

Tried on the 90mm F6.7 triplet and very dark background. With the 5x the second PST etalon reflection far out to the edge.
Moving the Sun to the edge of field the first PST reflection was visible but faint and even.

Maybe the Corrector on the M180 is responsible for some back refections. And not baffled yet like the VMC110.

Christian says in his website the etalon needs to be square on and many are not. And to use auto-collimation from the front to check.
I used this method to collimate my 6" F5 Celestron/Vixen. And standing across the road up the hill for AstroRods 6" F15.

I have recently purchased SH M48 and T2 tilters off ABS.
I can put the M48 one before the PST to make the etalon orthoganol to the light. But backfocus on the VMC110 would be an issue.
I had a quick look at getting the T2 after the PST in my bino set up but not an obvious way, to line up the sweet-spot.

Windy today so did some voluntary gardening at our local church community garden.

A few clear days for playing about.

Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Today I went out with the 127mm Meade Triplet and a SH 48mm to T2 tilter off ABS.

I noticed a comment in Christians website commenting on the etalon needing to be orthogonal to the light path.

I punched a hole in an old Xmas card and drew a 1/4" wide V away from it I could see it from 20 feet away.

Looking through the hole at the objective lens I assessed where the reflection of the centre of the V was, and also as moved up and down and left to right to the edge of field and judged how much black left.

After a few tries getting use to the tipper I decided it was good enough.

Now I can see proms in the middle of the field, not finding the best bit of a circle of on-band.
And across nearly half of the field as you would expect for 950mm fl.

The only downside is I probably will not have enough back-focus in the VMC110.

So a good days work.

Andrew


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I received the two 10x Chinese microscope eyepieces for the 45Deg microscope bino-viewers AstroRod modified to have a 2" nosepiece..

These give me the same magnification as my 25mm Clave' Plossl.

I had a good view of the large hedge prom today. Looked much like Stefis image.

The input aperture is 19mm and my focal plane image 18mm.

It seems to reduce background light by the Suns edge. I only have to rotate for the PST etalon main reflection.

The best improvement is seeing the surface detail. Rather than scanning to catch it its there in the static view.

I asked on CN about a possible 18mm for a bit more magnification but the consensus was bino-viewing was better and they are right.

A good day.

Thanks to Rod.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

The M180 has gone to my 'engineering facility' to be physically and optically lined up, have custom baffles added to the OTA, slide in to preserve night time use my engineer said, and have the PST etalon auto-collimated using a tilter for the scope.

Looking forward to the result.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Had a play with this today.

Thinking about the baffling.

One thing I realised is that the Stage 2 Mod was developed on the Vixen VCM110 and the Collimating lens had to be moved right in as far as it would go for focus reach.

However in the Mak its 2cm inside the 200mm distance so Collimating 22mm beam instead of 20mm. Losing light. And allowing for intensity squared for detectability losing 1.46x.

My blocker tilter is just visible in the field with a few reflections so needs treating.

Drawn out a possible baffle option for the back.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Been using the Mak180 recently with the PST Mod or a 90mm Triplet with a Quark Prom.

The PST is frustrating because of the etalon reflections.
I had a session filing out some plastic Moon filters holding the PST Re-focusser and the Omega blocking filter
and using my new Black3 my son bought me for Xmas.

The 90mm is a bit sharper especially the spicules.

Also I want more resolution.

So I have tried on the Mak180

a ES 2x Telecentric with a Combo Porm Quark

and

the PST Mod with a 2x Clave' long barlow.

Even through haze and clouds today they seem to be on a par for imaging proms.

I have also added a tilter to each set up and still get focus. Fortunatley I got some new Blue Fireball 1.25" extension tubes so I could position the PST collimator lens up inside the Mak180 to get the focal point in the right place.

Need a session auto-collimating the two etalons. And some clear weather of course!

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I have some questions about polarisers:

Are the normal ones supplied in 1.25" filters just linear polarisers?

I have 2. One is fixed as screwed in and one has the filter in a rotating mount.

I put one near the front of the PST Mod2. After the collimating lens and a Baader 35nm ERF and before the blocking filter. So its in the 20mm collimated beam. Fortunately no signs of heat affecting it. I toasted one after a 35nm in a refractor but it was in the converging beam. And the rotating one on an eyepiece after the re-focus lens and a Beloptik KG3 filter.

They seemed to work OK.

As the PST Etalon is tilted in use should I auto-collimate the front polariser to give minimum reflections off the front of the etalon? I assume it needs to be in line or at right angles to the tilt plane. I assume I put the etalon in its normal tuned postion on a black cloth pointing up at the sky and adjust the front polariser to give the minimum reflections?

Then in use with the front and back polarisers in line would I get minimum reflections and maximum throughput?

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

These are linear polarisers, a circular polariser (quarter wave plate) is what you need to shift reflections.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

So are the circular ones sold in 1.25" filters and how do you tell?

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

They tend to be camera filters, B&W is the best brand. They're called circular polariser rather than just polariser.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I did stock up with a few camera ones so need to look at.

The two I have did seem to work on dimming the chromosphere and seemed to reduce reflections.

Thanks. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi Mark,

Should the circular polariser go between the etalon and the eyepiece?

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Try it ahead and behind the etalon, see what works best. Just bear in mind it is an absorptive filter so think about energy load on it, this should always be minimal. so post any ERF filtration.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I have placed a camera circular polariser after the re-focus lens and before the KG3 on the eyepiece.

Reduced PST reflections.

One quiet off axis from the Baader 35nm or Omega 1.5A Blocker but reasonably dim.

One just a little off the main image. Using a dew shield seemed to reduce it a bit. Some off-axis reflection?

The proms look like in the Quark Chromo. Flat illumination with black background.

Could see the main sunspot group well as dims the surface a bit.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I have tried out tele-centric barlows on this before and tried my 2x ES Tele-extender and Quark Prom again and whilst it works the image scale is too large for my typical seeing.

So I thought can I use my -200mm and +200mm simple lenses for the PST2 Mod2 on here with my Quarks, after getting a similar idea to work on my 127mm Triplet.

To start with I put the -200mm on the front of a 2" diagonal in a aluminium! Barlow holder I had which happens to use a 25.4mm lens, the Quark Prom and then the +200mm in a Celestron Plastic Moon filter directly on the Clave' 25mm.

It worked but either dispersion or extra power there gave a larger image.

I went to a Baader T2 1.25" diagonal off my Baader Maxbright bino-viewers.

I am looking to get a 8mm collimated beam through my Quark Prom off axis to avoid mica faults on one sector.

Managed to get the -200mm 80mm in front of the fieldstop of the 25mm Clave' and again put the re-focus lens on the front of the 25mm Clave'.

This seemed to work but late in the day and seeing over the town below and with a low Sun was not very good.
Try out again later.

As the only way to use a Quark on the Mak180 at 1800mm FL which visually is OK most of the time its worth persevering with.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I had a try of my Chromo Quark in a 'collimated' beam.

First I had to go to a Baader T2 1.25" diagonal to reach focus with the Quark and the Clave' 25mm eyepiece, and only just or close.

I could see sunspots and proms.

I put a PST Collimator lens on the Quark nosepiece and the re-focus lens on the eyepiece.

Reached focus OK.

There was a sweet spot in the centre half of the field.

Could see the spots and surface details. And the double prom near the two larger spots, 'skeleton' as normal in Chromo.

Tried my Prom Quark but some scatter from the mica faults.

Went to the PST Mod 2 and on the double prom could see more details with side projections off the top.
With a circular polariser added a bit more surface detail.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

That's the difference between collimated and telecentric - there's a sweet spot with collimated but not with telecentric.

Mark


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi Mark,

I appreciate that.

My point is that the Mak180 at 1800mm FL is at the maximum I consider useable day to day. Just right with 25mm Clave' or 18mm equivalent little bino-viewers.

So trying to use a tele-centric barlow with a Quark at a minimum doubles the FL and is not useable.

At the moment limited to using the PST Mod2 on the Mak which is about 0.7A, maybe a bit better with the 1.5A Omega blocker. With the circular polariser I added recently for reflections a bit darker and chromosphere looks similar to Chromo Quark.

As the Chromo Quark luckily has PE mica as you pointed out it has no scatter like the Prom Quark or various reflections like the PST Mod2.

So I want to try to use it on the Mak180 at F10. As it pushes more light into the dim etalon to see if more detail is visible.
For the Prom Quark I bought a 100mm F5 Celestron/SW achromat and I use a reducer to get it down to F3.6ish to use with the built in Barlow to get a brighter image as the Band-width is greater for shorter FL scopes. And that seemed to work. A bigger DS60.

Tonight I had a play with diagonals, extension tubes and so on the get the Collimation lens 200mm in front of the Quark Combo Blocker, and a Re-focus lens at the back of the Etalon 200mm in front of the eyepiece focal stop.

A bit long and unwieldy so maybe not practical.

Even in the bodge above it visually looked OK.

Worth a play to compare with PST Mod dimmed for chromo-sphere.

The Quarks work on my 90mm F6.7 at 3x and 127mm F7.5 at 2x very well. All 1800mm FL or about there which I find acceptable for visual.

The same bodge on the 127mm looked OK as well with the Chromo and 150mm lens set for the F7.5.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Tee hee hee! The pros and cons of solar mods :)


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Whilst I now have two Daystar Quarks, both in Combo and 4.2x options, which I will try imaging with soon, I still use this scope for visual. It does not seem to do well with my barlow options compared to the refractors, where I will be using a Lunt 110mm D-ERF for imaging. Reported on that in my Celestron MCT110 development phase.

I have decided to move the filters about a bit. So that before the PST Etalon there are just ERF filters and after it the blocking and safety filters in a cooler environment just coping with the comb from the etalon.

So in the baffle tube a SVbonny 1.25" UV-IR to take about 50% the heat out. This will go in a slide in baffle Rod made for me. I am going to hopefully have the front which is blackened, skimmed to bare metal and polished to reflect off-axis heat.

Before the etalon in an extension to get the collimator lens to -200mm is that lens followed by a Baader 35nm 1.25" taking out about the remaining 42%. The nose of this is already polished alloy and a larger diameter than the slide in baffle aperture. The inside just ove 20mm to allow full illumination of the etalon.

Even if they fail by cracking the etalon will still have protection from most of the heat.

After the etalon will be the Beloptik KG3 UV-IR for visual long IR protection.

A red 25A 1.25" filter to stop the blue leakage from the Omega 1.5A blocker, which the Baader 35nm stops as well.

And the 25mm Omega 1.5A blocker.

At the moment the Omega is bodged into a 2" nosepiece. Need some suitable adapter or new arrnegement if it works out there. Usual issue of reflections may be a problem.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Had some clear sky today between clouds to try new configuration.

Rumak180 SVbonny UV-IR, Collimator, 35nm, PST Etalon, CPL, Re-focuser, KG3, Red 25A, 1.5A Omega Blocker, Binos

A bit deeper red.

Lost the pesky just off axis reflection. There is just one probably off the back of the Omega 1.5A blocker as its last.

Just checked and the CPL will pop in the 2" nosepiece after the Blocker tilter set up, so see if that solves that next time.

In the bino-viewers I am upside down and left-right reflected to Gong.

12.25 BST

11.00 (5.00) 10x Fantastic view of the biggish prom set. Three proms together getting higher, a Xmas tree and a Kiwi pecking at it. A small tower prom with flared top below.

09.00 Two dark spots inner one larger.

05.00 Triangle prom with splayed feet, Tuning fork leaning towards it, small prom parallel to the handle, V shaped prom

04.30 A dark elongated spot with a similar bright spot above it in line.

04.00 Little rounded top prom.

01.30 Swan necked dinosaur leaning down a bit.

I tried 12x PZO and Chinese 16X, 20X and 25xFor the first time). Good views of the 11.00 prom, but the 25x getting dim and fuzzy.

I was in giving up mode because of the reflections but seems a lot better now.

Some temperatures.

After 1.25" SVbonny UV-IR in a baffle is the nosepiece, which has a polished front, and contains the collimator lens then the 35nm Baader, was at 43C a reduction from 65C.

Looking up at the etalon 45C, seems consistent with the nosepiece temperature.

Front of the re-focus lens 23C

Look up the bino-viewer 33C

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Good to hear progress is being made, and interesting about the temperatures.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Tried with the CLP at the back but more refections showing, so moved back to the middle.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Transmissions in the current set up.

From a Lunt description:

Our Filters

Energy Rejection Filter – The filtering of a Lunt system starts with a “true” energy rejection filter at the front of the system. This filter is unique to Lunt, and blocks both dangerous UV and IR. On smaller telescopes the ER filter is seen as a red looking filter installed at a slight angle (to remove internal ghosting). This is either installed at the front of the scope or just inside the main objective. On larger aperture telescopes, Lunt puts an additional IR blocking filter onto the front surface of the main objective. This will remove all heat load from the internal parts. Even on these large aperture systems we still provide the secondary red ERF just inside the objective.

Etalon – The next “filter” in the system is actually the etalon. The etalon was not designed as a safety filter however, it does have a very highly reflective surface that rejects most UV (T). Significantly, this would reject the majority of all IR if no prior IR filters were present.

BG Filter – The third filter is the Schott-designed BG (Blue Glass) filter. This filter is also created to absorb any residual IR.

Long Wave Pass Filter – The next filter is commonly called the diagonal “mirror”, however, it is not a mirror at all. Inside the diagonal is a Long Wave Pass filter. To begin with, it is designed to reflect a specific percentage of the 656nm wavelength. It sits at a 90 degrees angle and pass thru IR into the backing plate.

Blocking Filter – The next filter is the blocking filter. Again, this is not a safety filter unto itself. As the name implies, it blocks out-of-band wavelengths. Furthermore this allows the h-alpha to pass.

Red Glass Filter – The final filter is another piece of the red glass (without the IR coating). This glass blocks 100% of all UV.
Redundant Filters

People ask why we incorporate so many IR and UV filters in the system. The multitude of safety features we employ insures that our customers will be protected. They are protected even if they use our products improperly. For instance, should a person accidentally place a standard night time diagonal in the rear of a solar telescope, the view would be bright, but safe.

Because of the addition of multiple filters and safety features, a person simply standing in the sunlight will receive more ambient UV and IR radiation to the eye than when they are looking through one of our solar telescopes.

I have:

Component- %:- UV---- B---- G---- R---- H---- IR---- LIR---- Net------ Total Net---- Total Net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blocking----- Transmission

UV/IR------------- 100----------------------------- 100-------------50

35nm-------------- 100-- 100-- 100--- 65 ------- 100------------- 42--------- 92

Etalon------------- 100-- 100-- 100--- 90-------- 100------------ 10--------- 99


Post Etalon

UV/IR/KG3------- 100----------------------------- 100--- 100---- 50--------- 52

25A---------------- 100-- 100-- 100-------------------------------- 34--------- 84


Blocker----------------------------------- 1.5A---------------------------------------------- 0.25%

Blocker and one Comb---------------- 0.7A----------------------------------------------- 0.13%

With the two ERFs there is 8% of incident light on the etalon. Equivalent to a 25mm aperture telescope.

If both the ERFs fail there is 16% of incident light falling on the blocker. Equivalent of a 36mm aperture telescope.

Its just what the Blocker and the one Comb it lets through which determines the light seen by the eye or CCD. These 'mask' anything which has gone on before.
Peter Drew has used a PST mod in a 6" scope with no ERF for years.
Rogerio Marcom uses a 8" Zeiss with only a substantial alloy baffle and no ERF.
These work as the Etalon and Blocker only transmit 0.13%. Provided the compnonents do not fail of course.

Whilst my SVbonny and 35nm may have a short life the Etalon for UV(T) IR, KG3-LIR/UV/IR and RED 25A for UV B G give me redundancy as in the Lunt above.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Went for a SH Baader 4X TZ2 barlow yesterday. Hope it works on this scope as well as the refractors for the Quarks.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

First solar for some time as been off ill away from home.

There is a SVbonny 1.25 UV-IR mounted under the step in the baffle tube now. Waiting for a 1.25" parfocal ring to go round it with reflective finish.
Bought some ceramic insulating paint additive to use on front facing surfaces.

2" Baader 35nm with 1.25" extender on front as a stop.
2" KG3

Baader TZ 2X

Prom Quark

40mm Celestron

Hot. Sunny broken cloud and light cloud. Poor seeing. Light wind.

Temperatures:

Front of Secondary 38.8
Corrector 26.7

Back of the UV-IR and holder 44

Front of 35nm 50.4

Back of T2 diagonal 66

Back of Quark 66.4

Up eyepiece 35.2

Back plate in shadow 28.9

Focusser body 26.1

Can see the proms on Gong. No surface details.

Cheers. Andrew


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Glad your're back home and observing!


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I had the PST mod out today with the bino-viewers.

I have had spring cleaning and 'Black3' session with the 'Lunt assured' setup.

I have a couple of reflections, fortunately on the same side, so rotating gets them out of the way.

On the other side I have a nice black background.

I coulds see the large prom pair nicely.

Mottling across the surface.

I could see the one spot and a filament near it.

Also the bright area near the edge.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I went round to see Rodastro with the T-2 to try on the telescope it was designed to work on, just a 6" F15 Zeiss.

Rod imaged with my Quark Chromo and T-2 with Baader35nm ERF. He said the image had a straight band across the middle. The image scale was a bit larger than he images at, about F22.5. On the Mak I am working at F20 so give it a try.

Cheers. Andrew


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Despite the heat 29C and just a couple of small proms on Gong I had a session with the PST mod.

As I have put a tilted 1.25" UV-IR in the middle of the baffle tube I decided I could try removing the Baader 35nm after the collimating lens.

This removed the off axis reflections I had. Apart from one close by which is always there, I assume its in the etalon.

So I assume they came from the bright reflection off the front of the etalon reflecting back off the Baader which was tilted.

Reduced the contrast on the surface though.
I tried a Baader 7nm instead of the red 25A but it had a blue-green leak. Also it and the Baader 35nm after the red 25A but no improvement on surface detail.

The Blocker which was loose in a 2" nose-piece is now screwed into a T2 extension tube turned out to clear the tilter. I can now have another play at tilting the 1.5A blocker.

Could see the proms on Gong.

Mak180, Tilted UV-IR, Collimator lens at -200mm, PST Etalon, Circular polariser, re-focusser lens, UV-IR&KG3, Red 25A, 1.5A blocker, Bino-viewers, 10x.

The back of the UV-IR was at 45C and the metal front of the PST Mod 32C and the collimator lens 34C. The temperature up the eyepiece 32-37C.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I had a session in cyclops mode today.

Took a while to adapt the T2 based tilter for the blocking filter to 2" fittings at both ends to go in the diagonal.

UV-IR, Collimator, Etalon, CPL, Re-focussser, KG3 and Red 25A in the nose of the diagonal, 1.5A Omega, Baader 7nm, Clave' 25mm.

Sunny light wind with a bit of haze round the sun.

I tried without the 7nm to start with. Light red with some scatter.

The 7nm reduced the scatter and some light off axis reflections.

The larger prom looked like Virgins rocket ship landing on the moon.
A few small proms.
Could see dark spots and bright lines in the top group.
Mottling across the surface.

Now I have the blocker screwed in I will have another go at tilting it for best detail.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Images Rod took with my Quark Chromo at F15 and with the TZ-2 at F30.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/513 ... f992_m.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/513 ... f70f_m.jpg

What do you think?

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Why are the images smaller then from the email original I used?

Andrew


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Last edited by AndiesHandyHandies on Wed Jul 21, 2021 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

First one looking ok, second one way off band...


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Ordered a Female T2 to Male SCT adapter to move to 3 'etalon' set up. Diagonal only for illustrative purposes.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/513 ... 5d1b_b.jpg

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

Cool pic of the assembly!


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Did some tests on this today.

Tried a 2x modded ED Rodastro leant me with the TZ2 and Quark Chromo Combo but too much magnification for visual.
Tried the bare TZ2 and had a very nice view of the large prom. This has the darkest background of all my etalons.

With the Quark Prom Combo it was too bright because of the disc.

The PST Mod showed the large prom brighter of course. I do have a reflection off the front of the 1.5A Omega Comb filter but this can be rotated. And a little diffuse reflection off the eye of axis due to the tilt. Same when I added the 1.5A to the TZ2/Chromo but was too dark to use.

Interestingly the PST mode showed more contrast between light and dark in the large spot group and filaments across the disc not apparent in the TZ2 and Chromo.

RodAstro has lent me a Mak 0.67x reducer to try with the Quarks.

And I have my off-axis pick out to try on the Quark Prom to avoid mica damage.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by marktownley »

I've been impressed you even got some sun Andrew, i've been sat under the 'Midlands cloud' for nearly 2 weeks now...


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

I had a play yesterday.

PST Mod.

I moved the Baader 7nm from the eyepiece to in front of the Omega 1.5A comb filter. Removed the reflections from the Omega, less stuff getting through.
Apart from one faint off axis reflection much darker now. I find it works with the 25mm Clave' at 72x OK

And had another try with the Baader TZ2 and the Combo Chromo Quark. I used the TZ2 with a 40mm Celestron at 90x.

The 90mm triplet and 4.2x Quark Chromo are working at 2520mm. I often use it with the 32mm Meade at 78.25x.

A nice day tomorrow so I might get to compare them. Get the Mak180 on an Ioptron mount. More convenient for use with the bino-viewers.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Had the Mak180 PST Mod out yesterday on the Ioptron mount with the bino-viewers. Much better now to have the bino-viewers level all the time.

With 12x PZOs at 86x had a lovely view of the surface details. Nice black background. Better than the Chromo Quark on Baader TZ2 which was under-whelming in comparison.

RodAstro has been reading up on Zeiss and he says the PZOs are specially selected ones to work well with a flat field.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Reducing reflection problems.

I have found by accident that the filters should go from wider bandwidth to lower.

I found that a 35nm in front of the PST etalon was giving me reflection issues. So I went to a UV-IR instead as the first filter.

Also I has a 7nm on the eyepiece as using a 25A as a blue leakage blocker so some near red leaage still. And was getting bad reflections back of the Omega 1.5A comb filter. So I move the 7nm infront of the 1.5A and reduced that considerably.

I have:

1.25" UV-IR on an added push in baffle. Visual passed only and reflections invisible.

Collimating lens.

PST Etalon reflections pass back out . . .

Re-focusing lens

KG3 absorbs long IR for eye safety, and reduces noise in CCDs according to Mark T

Red 25A for absorbing blue leakage in PST Etalon

CPL to reduce internal reflections

Baader 7nm reflect out of band scatter and light and yellow and green leakage in 25A

Omega 1.5A Comb filter. Reflects unwanted combs.

Next time I am out I need to clock the PST set up with my bino-viewers for linear polarisation tuning.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Messing with the UV-IR filter stuffed up the main baffle tube and baffling round it. Found the filter is not blackened so black Sharpie on the filter edge and B2 & B3 on the filter holder. I have been using a parfocal ring round the filter as a heat reflector, black anodising turned off but I want to baffle the filter better. I realised a T2 1.25" adapter would fit as well with the 1.25" bit acting as a baffle.

Took the small ring out of the filter and put it in the front of the T2 adapter. Put a wider ring from another filter now, from one of my cheap '20mm stops' in it. More B2 & B3.

!!! Transfer lens does not work as front element vignetted by tube in front.

Cheers. Andrew.


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Re: Santel M180 F10 Rumak Maksutov first light

Post by AndiesHandyHandies »

Hi

Sun playing hide and seek behind the clouds today.

Crisp autumn day with clear sky and light wind.

Tried the 7nm last after Bobs Comb filter but no great difference so put back in front of it, so filters go from less reflective/ absorptive to most.

Later when settled had no real visible reflections and nice black background. Like the Quark Chromo.

Early on had nice views of todays proms.

Looking from the front and getting the Sun on axis the secondary baffles down to the bottom of the primary baffle. But the sun is off-set in the bino eyepieces so some mechanical work needs doing at the back, or alignment as well?

Calculating the stop size for 20mm field illuminated from the 60mm secondary gives 26.36mm. The 1.25" filter retaining rings are near 26mm so I m about ideally baffled. The sun just fits in the field so when centred should not be 'touching the sides. But the limited sweet spot means observing with the sun off axis especially for proms.

There really.

Cheers. Andrew.


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