February chat

[Montana]

Hi everyone,

Franco was missing the monthly imaging challenges, but unfortunately I ran out of ideas after about 18 months (if you have any ideas please let me know). However, Franco did come up with 2 interesting chat topics for the next couple of months.

For February, please share "why and how did you get into solar photography?"

It is a great way to get to know one another

Alexandra

[Montana]

My story:

I was really interested in astronomy from a very young age as my mother was very interested. We used to go to Jodrell Bank every summer holidays and my mother used to show me things in the sky by pointing and binoculars. When I got married we bought a 6" Newtonian with a hand driven mount and I used to do projections of sunspots and visual viewing of bright objects I could find. We really enjoyed it.

I then heard about GOTO mounts and everyone raved about the Meade LX90 and I got so excited that it would find these deep sky objects that I had always wanted to see but had never found. We bought one, I spent a year of every clear night seeing nothing at all. We spent hours setting up, re setting up, re setting up again, never even looking up at the stars. It never found anything, it couldn't even re-find a star we had aligned it on, or even come close to the Moon. It went back to the shop a dozen times, we had more arguments in this year in total than the whole 28 years of our married life. I absolutely hated this LX90 and GOTO. I hated astronomy at this point. At this point the astronomy shop said that there was such an inherent unfixable problem with the electronics that he would take it back for parts. He suggested exchanging it for a Coronado PST. I did this and looked at the Sun for the first time. It was so amazing I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This may I add was in 2008 in deep solar minimum. It was a year before I saw my first active region. I was so amazed I told everyone about the Sun and what I could see, so much so that I just had to image it so I could show everyone. I have never looked back, I think everyone is now tired of all my images as friends and family just nod

Even though I have a NEQ6 Pro mount, it does NOT have a GOTO function, neither does my Merlin Accuter mount. None of my mounts have this function

and that is my story

Alexandra

[rigel123]

That's great Alexandra! Since I may not make the meeting I'll share here how I got into solar imaging. Back in 1963 my grandfather bought a 3" Tasco reflector for me and my brothers. We explored Jupiter, Saturn, the moon and with the extremely dangerous eyepiece filter that came with the scope, the sun. Luckily none of us lost our vision and after the filter cracked we learned to project the sun on a piece of paper. Fast forward to 2010 I got my first scope for DSO imaging, the Meade ETX LS6, which of course, was not a great scope for imaging but I managed to get some decent images to start learning how to stack and process images of nebula, galaxies, etc. I upgraded to an Atlas EQG and an Orion ED80T as well as a 6" RC scope for my DSO imaging. When the Venus transit of 2012 was due, I had been seeing posts from people taking Ha images with Lunt and Coronado scopes and I got interested in that. I bought my current 60mm tilt tuned Lunt and although it was cloudy during the transit, I was hooked with my first look through the Lunt. Naturally I wanted to capture images and after a while I noticed animations done by Andy Devy and with his help I took my first animation in 2011. I finally got the DS unit for my Lunt 6 years later and that is now my current setup. My main focus is capturing animations to show the dynamic activity occurring constantly on our star and have been lucky to capture some fairly significant events. Love sharing with this forum and all the great advice that can be gleaned from the members.

And that is my story!

[solarchat]

Thank you for those stories, friends.

For me, as a child in the 60s we would visit my grandparents house in Palm Bay Florida, just a few miles from Cape Canaveral, every summer.
My grandfather was a retired Army Master Sergeant who served in England during World War II and in Germany for the reconstruction. My grandmother was an English nurse during the war.
The Apollo program was in full swing. My grandfather was absolutely obsessed with the space program and took me to the launch of Apollo 11 as a four-year-old and then the later launches.
We also watched Star Trek on television every week when it first came out. I loved space!
When I turned 10, my mother purchased a cardboard Tasco reflecting Telescope from the Sears catalog for a Christmas present.
I immediately set it up outside and the first thing I did was look through the screw on Solar filter at the Sun. The filter exploded after about two minutes of observing but I can remember the sunspots and thinking how incredibly awesome it was.
Fast-forward through my military service which was all spent underwater without the stars, to my late 30s when, as an Air Traffic controller, I had accumulated enough resources to purchase a real telescope.
I used a Celestron C8 with a glass solar filter for years to watch the Sun. Sometimes I would take it out at night and look at the Orion nebula or other easy to find targets but my love was always the Sun.
When my friend, fellow veteran and fellow air traffic controller Charlie killed himself in 2007 and then later that year my sister also took her own life, I did a great deal of soul-searching to try and figure out what had made these people feel so lost and alone that they determined not living would be better than continuing on.
It seemed to me that my passion for solar astronomy had always given me something to spend my time doing other than worrying about silly things and that maybe if I could get young people to see how great it was to look through a telescope at the Sun, they would never feel alone or horrible about some of the things that we all suffer through in our lives. This was about the same time that the Coronado PST was coming out and narrowband solar telescopes were available to the consumer.
I thought it would be a good tribute to my friend Charlie if I were to start up some kind of program where I could share my love of the Sun with students at local schools. I sold a very valuable electric guitar for the cost of 2 Coronado telescopes and mounts.
This became the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project and thanks to a couple key figures in my life, it exploded internationally and became the largest solar astronomy program in the world.
My hope has always been that some people, even just a few, would experience this hobby and then have something they could depend on and be amazed by so that they would never be totally isolated, alone and desperate with feelings of despair from life’s daily challenges.

[DeepSolar64]

As a child I was interested in the natural world from a very early age. My earliest memories are catching insects when I was 4 years old. Later when I was 9 or so I was catching caterpillars, gathering moth and butterfly eggs or chrysalis or cocoons and raising up many species of lepidoptera. I studied many species of insects avidly from this time well into my teen years. The last moths I had to emerge from cocoons was two Promethea moths . I was 22 at that time. Also during my teens I avidly rockhounded and studied geology, Biology was a favorite and I had microscopes, and still do. I served as a librarian assistant in the seventh grade and a biology assistant in the 10th grade. I studied reptiles and amphibians too! I was a " jack of all trades and a master of none! "

As far as astronomy goes I got into that in 1978 at 14 years old when my parents bought me a little Focal 50mm F12 refractor from the local Kmart department store. With it I observed the Sun, with one of those little eyepiece solar filters!, the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. Deep Sky was much more difficult. The little scope had a shaky mount and a single 12mm huygens eyepiece that gave about 50x and the finder was almost useless. I did magically find M13 with it in the spring of 1982 which began my love for deep sky observing. I began to use a pair of 10x50 binoculars to do the low power stuff that the scope would not do and use the scope where I needed more magnification. Like finding M57, the Ring Nebula. A year later with my dad's help I purchased my 10.1" Coulter dobsonian. It changed everything.

Anyway as time went on I gained a close friend and observing partner and slowly more equipment. Later in life more disposable cash brought the ability to obtain my Coronados and soon to be two apochromatic refractors. And the internet has changed everything since the old days bringing more ways to research a subject, and join SolarChat and observe with remote telescopes like Slooh. And now I can image! How cool is that! I remember reading about astrophotography back in the 70s and 80s when everyone was chilling film. I had no interest in film astrophotography at all.

I also must mention that I was for a while ( 2007-2013 ) involved with the Eastern Native Tree Society ( ENTS ) for about six years and did a lot of tree documentation for the National Park Service while with them. A number of trees ENTS measured were records. I have a deep love for trees. It was trees that led me into Neo-Druidry. I took a two year course through the Belgium based New Order of Druids and passed and then became the first Christian to ever hold a council member position within the group. Most druids are pagan. I ended up slowly leaving after a fallout of several of us with the druid leader and a tugging of my Christian faith that was leading me in a different direction. Also our local grove fell apart when the leader had a divorce and moved.

And I must mention the 2017 total solar eclipse. Very memorable!!

To end this I must thank my parents immensely for backing my scientific endeavors. They supported and encouraged me in every way. I have always felt that I have let them down. I never went to college, got a STEM job or became a professional in any way. I have remained an amateur. Maybe a jack of all trades. But I have damn sure enjoyed it!

My love for science, philosophy and theology will persist to my death or until I lose my mind. Onward I go. Thanks for reading my rambling and I have really enjoyed your stories!! Very enlightening.

Curiosity has always been my motto.

James

P.S. And Alexandra, I learned how to find everything the old way. With star maps and atlases. I have found well over 1000 deep sky objects this way including five quasars. I did not get my first GoTo mount until 3 years ago and now have a second, a SW EQ6 pro. It is something I have to learn to use. My GoTo is my brain. I know my way around the sky better than I know my way around town! But I am getting old and not quite as quick as I used to be. I have earned the use of GoTo. I just hope I have better luck with it than you have.

[pedro]

My astro journey is described in the following link: http://astrosurf.com/re/ccd.html - mainly deep sky imaging

I got interested in solar imaging around 2002 http://astrosurf.com/re/sun.html

best regards

[MAURITS]

My story is a bit shorter than the previous above.

I've actually been interested with everything that happened in the sky, my whole life.
It started with simply using the naked eye to observe the sky during the evening.

In the 70's - 80's and 90's I was lucky enough to live in a dark location so I could do some "Deep Sky" with a very basic telescope, and binoculars but the dark location made this perfectly possible.

At a certain point, after many years, an industrial zone came into my living area with an awful lot of night lighting, which meant the end of my beautiful dark location.

The years passed and at one point I had to undergo a very serious and delicate thigh bone operation, as a result of a previous motorcycle accident, which forced me to stop teaching at the high school.

So, I now suddenly had a lot of free time and I started doing some internet research about the "Sun", because I thought this could help me spend the day meaningfully, "Deep Sky" during the night had become almost impossible due to the excess of scattered light.

THEN I accidentally discovered this wonderful forum where everything I wanted to know about the Sun could be read, it was about the year 2015.

I really wanted to learn so much about the Sun that I wanted to start observing in White Light as soon as possible.

Thanks to my wife who encouraged me to continue with this in SAFE, I have systematically purchased better parts for "White Light" observation.
A logical consequence was the "Hydrogen Alpha" equipment, which ultimately formed the pinnacle of the overarching Sun observation.

Hydrogen Alpha observation that literally made my jaw drop quickly led to Hydrogen Alpha imaging.

At this point I have benefited enormously from this forum by always receiving a correct answer to my endless questions and always being encouraged by the many likes and comments, a big THANKS for that.

For my equipment, setup, you can see that on my website.

I know one thing, that's My never ending STORY ...

[solarchat]

thank you for that post Maurits.
I’ve been feeling very irrelevant and a little use or value lately. Your appreciation of my years of work and expense on this forum gave me a great lift of the spirits.

[DeepSolar64]

Hey Stephen,
We would be lost without you. I must say that I am so grateful for your contributions, donations and running the forum. This forum has revolutionized my solar observing program. Hats off to you my friend!!

James

[MAURITS]

[MapleRidge]

Great suggestion Alexandra and Franco...very curious to read through the posts. A lot of common themes amongst the stories posted and mine follows many of the themes mentioned by those before me.

So I too was intrigued by the night sky as far back as I can remember. The Apollo landings and following space programs always fascinated me, and added a dimension that the night sky wasn't a finite layer above our heads. Growing up on a farm, the intimate connection between the seasons, the cycle of plant and animal life and the corresponding seasonal changes in the positions of the daytime sun and the nighttime constellations were all intertwined.

I did my first astrophoto when I was in public school using my grandfathers Brownie camera (still have it) and I received a 35mm camera as a gift for graduating from public school to high school. I already had worked through a few telescopes, my first was a Christmas gift in 1975 and it got me hooked and I've never stopped exploring. My second scope was a 60mm Tasco refactor that came with the cursed dark glass solar filter which got me hooked on the sun. I was taking solar photos and developing them myself in a darkroom setup in the only bathroom in the house

Solar work advanced after I finished university and bought a Celestron C102 OTA and fitted it with various front mount solar filters for white light work. I joined the digital imaging world in 1991 with my first CCD camera and soon found myself gathering solar photons with it (pretty crude by today's standards). I was an early contributor to the astronomy form on CompuServe (mid 90's) and one of the few submitting solar work. I was contacted by David Ratledge and asked to submit a chapter on solar imaging for the book he was putting together titled; The Art and Science of CCD Imaging. He had different amateurs from around the world contribute a chapter on their specific area of interest.

While attending a star party soon after the adoption of the CCD I had a chance to image the sun through a PST and the road down the solar Ha road began. The club I was in purchased a 40mm Coronado scope (upgraded PST) and I became the main user and spent several years imaging with it. When Lunt introduced their initial line of filters I had a look at them at NEAF and ordered a 50mm etalon and B1200Ha blocker. The 50mm etalon was soon paired with a 75mm version to DS with the 50. After that more hardware (mostly Lunt) came into my possession and it is all used at every available opportunity I have.

I was invited to join SolarChat by Walter Koch back in 2012 and thanks to his offer I have been able to share the passion for solar astronomy with you all. It is especially nice to have the opportunity to meet member in person...many at NEAF and some during holidays in Europe. My heartfelt thanks to all who took time time to share the passion on line and in person!

Sorry for the long winded answer

Brian

[DeepSolar64]

Brian,
Nice to hear your story. We both began our journey in the 1970's though you were three years or so ahead of me. And you do " Liquid Sunshine " too!

A brownie camera. That is a real oldie. I used Kodak 110 and 126 instamatics to take images of the projected sun back then.

James

[Martin_S]

Wow Alexandra, what a great topic for sharing our interest in solar astronomy.
My journey started on the 20th of May 1966 at school in the UK when I was 9 years old. Early in the morning
Our teacher, Mr. Watt gave us a talk about the sun and moon. Later that morning he
took the class outside to watch a partial Solar eclipse. We didn't have any safe viewing options.
all we had was old film negatives to look at the Sun with or we looked through our Woollen jumpers.

From then on, I was interested in anything to do with space and would spend hours reading books on astronomy.
And watching all the moonshots and space related documentaries on television.

Fast forward to the late1970's, I was living in Australia. For my first Christmas my wife bought me some binoculars.
I still use them; they are now 44 years old. I would lay on a sun lounger at night and star hop around the night sky.
Later on, I got a small 60mm wide field achromat and would spend hours sketching the moon and the brighter deep sky objects.
I then built a 6-inch Newtonian which was great till light pollution made nighttime viewing very difficult.
In 2017 at the ripe old age of 59 I retired due to a back injury and took up Solar Astronomy, I'd done white light viewing for ages.
So, I bought a Lunt 60 mm H-alpha telescope and a planetary camera, I now use a Quark double stacked with a PST etalon.

My nighttime activities are mainly lunar imaging at home or deep sky imaging at a dark sky site.

[MapleRidge]

James, I think we are about the same vintage...I celebrated the 40th anniversary of my 18th birthday last fall

Brian

[DeepSolar64]

Brian,
Close. I turned 18 in 1982. A little over 42 years ago.

James

[rsfoto]

Hi,

Interesting stories.

With me it all started after buying a ranch (33 hectare or 82 acres) in a dark area but the purpose was setting up an ecological hotel for terrestrial photographers as I was one too but the project failed and I sold the ranch 4 years ago.

Sitting there at night the night sky was amazing and I started with Astrophotography using my telephotos and cameras. Then somehow I found Astronomy forums and met Eric Roel who inspired me to buy a Coronado H-alpha filter and then everything else developed automatically.

I built a total of 3 Observatories being the first a simple pier in the middle of nowhere, then a wooden hut with ROR and then the last one out of bricks and two huge 7 tonne Piers with another ROR which is where I am now.

That is all Folks

regards Rainer

[DeepSolar64]

Thanks for your story Rainer. I always viewed You and Eric as a sort of a team. I am glad Eric introduced you to Ha imaging. Both of you do superbly.

[Ivan]

What amazing stories! Hats off to you, your experience and passion, your worries and perseverance in achieving goals, your vitality! Thank you for being there and accepting me into your family!

My path is much more modest, but it is somewhat similar to the path of many. I have been interested in space since early childhood, drawing and dreaming of distant worlds, looking at the stars in the evenings. But it didn't go any further. And only at the age of 28, having bought a dslr, I started taking my first photos with a fixed camera from a tripod. We drove out of the city, where the urban illumination is less, stopped in a deserted place on the side of the road, walked in the snow across the field, set up our cameras and took pictures.

Then I bought the Heq5 pro, but continued to shoot on a dslr with a telephoto lens. And it was only after a few years that I was able to save up and buy a small used WO apochromate, which I use now. For many years I have been shooting with a dslr connected to a telescope. I didn't think about anything but DSO. Although I talked with colleagues and of course knew about photos of planets and the Sun, I even observed the Sun in SM90 in 2013. But I understood that I would not be able to buy it in the coming years. So I focus on the DSO.

Gradually, I realized that I needed a cooled camera, and saved up money for it. And when I had the right amount, I came across Valery's post on the Russian forum, it was 2020. He had Bob Yoesle quotes in his signature, you all know them. And I thought about it. I thought for a long time, and bought Lunt 50. Since then, my life has changed dramatically.

I am grateful to fate for seeing this post by Valery and for the fact that you received me so warmly, helped me with advice and supported me. Now I have so many friends, thanks Solarchat!

Ivan

[DeepSolar64]

Ivan,
Now maybe you can pass all of it on to your little girl.

James.

[ffellah]

Hello all: it is so interesting and fascinating to read everybody's stories !

I was born and grew up in Milan, Italy. I was a very curious kid, interested in everything. From young age I loved photography, as a way of documenting all I was seeing around me and capturing the moments. We lived two blocks from Leonardo's Last Supper and short walking distance to the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica, my favorite place to visit. I grew up in the 60's, I was 14 when I watched the lunar landing live. I could not believe what I was seeing ! In school and high school art and science were my favorite subjects: in college part of my studies were about computers, I was totally intrigued by them. I was an early adopter of PC's, first an Atari 800 then the first Mac, circa 1984. I was also into high end audio, through my older brother's company. Fast forward to 1991: Lisa and I moved to the US and I joined Mark Levinson in building up his second high end audio company, Cello. I came to astronomy after our older son took an astronomy class in high school, had to do some observations as homework and we went to the Westport Observatory. We had an amazing night ! After that I bought my first telescope, a Meade ETX125. I had no idea how to set it up but one night I succeeded in seeing Saturn with the rings. My jaw dropped: I was hooked. I got involved in the Observatory as Treasurer for 6 years and now on the board for 7-8 years. Did my 12+ years of DSO's observing, public nights on large telescopes (we have a 25" Obsession there) and learning how to use various types of telescopes. I got larger and larger telescopes myself. Around 2012 I started to be curious about the sun: nobody at the observatory was observing it. I got myself a PST and was surprised as how much you could see with it. The DSO are pretty static, the sun is very dynamic and you can observe changes by the minute. I then got myself a Solarmax II 60mm, my first scope for imaging. I think my passion for photography, my interest in science, technology and astronomy came all together in solar photography. Just the concept of taking pictures of the sun is kind of crazy: first thing they tell you when you are a kid is never to look directly at the sun or you can become blind ! I have to thank Stephen, Alexandra, Mark T and all of you for making SC such an amazing community, certainly an important part of my life.

This is my story.

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

Franco,
I am an audio fan myself. We share that! And you are a bit older than you look.

I was an assistant librarian and a biology assistant in school. I never got to be a board member at a public observatory. That is awesome!!

Thanks for sharing your story.

James.

[VasilevIvan]

Hi to all! This is a very interesting topic for communication!

How interesting it is to read each stories on the way to solar astrophotography!
My brother and I - we are twins. When we were young we loved to look at the sky. Our village is located 90 km from Moscow and the sky was covered full of stars especially in August that time. It seemed that your absolutely dissolving into stars. One day in the summer of the 90s, while watching the stars, my brother and I noticed a bright white spot in the sky and we could not explain what it was. We observed it all August every night. After several years we knew that it was the Hale-Bopp comet. But it was amazing!

In 2008, I decided to buy a MAK 150 telescope and a HEQ5 mount. I remembered the first impressions of viewing the Moon and its craters, which i remembered for a lifetime. Later, I knew how many amateurs photograph the Sun, but I was wary of it. But still, my curiosity got the better of me. And in the summer of 2015, I purchased SolarMax II 60, and in the autumn of the same year, I purchased Quark Chromosphere. And it was absolutely incredible impressions of those views that determined my passion for solar photography and everything related with it. Later i bought another telescopes, filters, cameras and etc. Later I learned about SolarChat, and here I was able to improve my knowledge and practice of solar astrophotography. I have great respect for Stephen Ramsden for the mission he carries out to popularize knowledge about the Sun for people all over the world.
That's my story. I thank everyone for the friendly atmosphere on this resource and wish everyone the most interesting observations and pleasant communication!

[steveward53]

Morning all ...

A simple reason for me turning to the joys of solar imaging , I had three weeks of cloudy nights but bright blue days so I purchased a glass filter for the ETX105 that I'd just acquired back in 2012 and went from there , hooked in a moment.

I'm now running a SW Evostar 150 with a Canon 6D and an Altair 174MM .

Still waiting to pull the trigger on a Hydrogen-alpha rig , have come close on numerous occasions but QC issues with Quarks have prevented me taking the plunge so far .

As these show no signs of improving I'm now torn between a Lunt 60 DS and the Coronado 70MM iii , still can't decide ...

[DeepSolar64]

Steve

I don’t think you would lose with either the Lunt 60 or SolarMax III 70. I am quite curious on how the SolarMax III will do.

I have missed seeing your nice white light images lately.

James

[Montana]

I like that, 3 weeks of cloudy nights and beautiful clear days! I get the opposite

Alexandra

[Soendergaard]

Thanks for your stories it was very interesting reads.

Like many of you I've been fascinated by stars from childhood. I started with a small Newtonian scope about 25 years ago. There is something deep and profound about how gravity has pressed atoms together until it ignited the first light in the universe. And how all atoms (apart from helium, hydrogen and a few other light atoms) were created in the life cycle of stars. In some sense we are stardust turned self-aware now observing the phenomenon that creates our building blocks - to me this is quite peculiar.

all the best
Steen

[Александр]

When I was 12 years old I looked up and looked at the moon . A year later I bought my first 7x30 binoculars and looked at the stars in the evenings.
At the age of 22 I bought my first 60x600mm refractor and looked at all the planets and the Sun through the black glass.
It's just amazing that the time of 1988 the illumination was not so extensive as now, the stars were visible as needles even in such a small refractor with a diameter of only 60 mm. And every time it was evening I went to watch the stars.
As time passed civilization began to occupy more and more spaces of our lands, and the illumination became unbearable for astronomy lovers.
So I had to focus a little bit on photographing the Sun.
When I first looked at the Sun Coronado 6o mm. I was cracked in my head everything changed and I started to observe and shoot our star.
When I watch the Sun or take pictures I enjoy and relax.
If you are in a bad mood I advise you to look at the Sun .


Hank you.
Alexander.

[Александр]

Hank you.
Alexander.



Thank you for your kind words!

[Ibbo]

Way back in the dim and distant past I did my O level Astronomy ( I got a B ) and part of the project was recording sunspots ( I also made a German equatorial mount in metalwork -that covered 2 bases), I borrowed my dads binos and capped off one side and projected an image of the sun onto card and marked the sunspots.

Over the years I have been in and out of solar as the sunspot cycle ebbed and flowed.

Saw the total in 99 and again in 06 and wanted to get into ha but did not have the money esp after starting doing the planetarium.

As in life things altered , we moved and money came available for an upgrade of scopes and mount and I was cheeky and said throw in the PST mod and we have a deal, I was hooked.
I was never working full time (working is not the correct decription it was an extention of my hobby) sso I had time to grab data lots of it 20 pane mosaics with the DMK 21 for a full disc, I am guessing a 1000 frame file is bigger nowadays though.

Then my wife got me a very nice present a 60mm Lunt.

[Ibbo]

I have just realised that the 4" mirror from my Charles Frank Saturn scope will have been with me 50 years in Oct - must get it a secondary and a tube and try it out again.

[nicspenceryork]

My first memory of being spellbound by the night sky was on Christmas Eve 1975 (aged 6) when searching the night sky for Father Christmas! The stars twinkled in a moonless sky. I'd always enjoyed looking only with my eyes until 13 November 2017 when I was mesmerised by the Venus and Jupiter conjunction. That led me to buy a Celestron 6SE with a GoTo mount. I took my first photo of the moon in March 2018 with an iPhone and so began to log all my space activity on Instagram @nicspenceryork
I began to see images of the sun on Instagram in WL and h alpha by people I follow to this day including Mary McIntyre, Rob Bower & Jason Stromback. So in December 2018 I got a Celestron Eclipsmart Solar Filter and took my first image, again with an iPhone, and that was it... I was hooked! I bought an ASI120MC & Coronado PST March 2019 loved it, wanted more, sold it. Sold the Celestron 6SE bought a SkyWatcher 80 ED DS Pro and a Celestron AVX mount in April 2019 and made my own WL filter. Bought a ASI178MM & quark May 2021, loved it, wanted more, sold it. I'd been struggling with stacking and processing on a Mac until I used software called WINE to allow me to use AS!2 and ImPPG. By this stage I was certain I would stick with solar imaging and knew now that I could stack and process with a windows laptop (which I now have) and decided to save for a double stacked h alpha system. In my extensive research I stumbled across Solarscope in the Isle of Man. I realised that this was probably the one for me. I contacted an astonishingly talented Solar Astronomer called Alexandra Hart (not sure whether you've heard of her?!) to ask her about her Solarscope before I ordered it and she invited me to join the Solarchat Forum and BAA Solar Section and here I am telling you about it today! I always look at the night sky with my eyes as we live in a Bortle 4 and are surrounded by even darker skies. I still have a little look at the moon and planets through the scope from time to time. But it's the sun which has held my interest unwaveringly. Unlike the moon and planets where you can look look online to predict what they will look like in many years time, the buzz for me is that fact that with the sun you never know what's going to happen. I love that the Sun is tricky to image and challenging to understand and so it is a project that will last me a lifetime of learning. Who knew how I'd come to value the friendship of so many via Solarchat Forum... it really has been a game changer. Thank you.

[rbenton]

In 1979 I was 22 years old and beginning to fall in love with photography as a hobby. I was eager to shoot anything and everything, so when a newspaper article told of an upcoming total solar eclipse – well of course I wanted to shoot that too.
I drove 600 miles from my home in Sacramento to Portland, Oregon. In the pre-dawn darkness of February 26, I drove east along the Columbia River until I saw stars overhead instead of clouds. I set up a tripod on a hilltop overlooking the Columbia Gorge in Merryhill, Washington and watched as the moon slowly overtook the sun as it rose in the east.
The experience was so profound for me I felt that I had to have more. So when I learned there would be another one the following year, I spent those twelve months preparing a trip to Kenya to photograph it there. Four years later I shot another in Papua New Guinea, then in Mexico in 1991, Catalina in 1992, and in 2003, 2012, 2017 and most recently the annular eclipse this past October 2023. I wanted to buy an Ha scope for the 2017 eclipse and was told to get advice from Stephen Ramsden. between he and the other generous members of this forum I learned how to get what I wanted out of my solar telescope. Such an education! Now I am headed to Texas for April’s total solar eclipse.
That first eclipse 45 years ago was a pivotal moment in my life. It sparked a passion in me for travel and the adventure that comes with that. But it also ignited a passion for photography which steered me into my career as a photojournalist. So much of who I am today was born at 8:15 am, February 26, 1979.

You can see some of my work at: www.randallbenton.com

[rigel123]

Great story and website Randall!

[DeepSolar64]

I have really enjoyed everyone's stories. I am amazed on how many of us started in the 1970s. I am waiting for Eric Roel's. He started much earlier than that I think.

James

[Peterm]

Oh wow! great posts here, diverse backgrounds, yet things we share in common... Solar Astronomy and respect and thanks for Steven’s Solar Chat that has brought us together here!

So, how my Astro Journey from Solar Projecting in 1973 would lead me back to Solar Astronomy and the "Cupboard Solar Observatory" (or now the CSO - thanks Nic!).

My passion for Astronomy started at about 8 years old when I still lived in England and started watching The Sky at Night hosted by the late, Sir Patrick Moore. His passion ignited mine. We moved to Australia when I was 11 years old (how lucky Astronomy Sky wise!). The first book my parents bought for me was “The Observers Guide to Astronomy” by of course Patrick Moore.

My first scopes were Tasco’s starting with a 4VTE “Asteroid” that I still have. I learnt to do Solar projection following Patrick’s advice in my now treasured book. Then I discovered electric guitar and for several years played all around Sydney in a “New Wave/Power Pop band”. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately Patrick’s book was lost forever, somewhere in a Black Hole no doubt!

It was during a trip to my sister in laws wedding in Hobart, Tasmania in 1983 that a quick look in a second hand book shop would see me re-discovering Patrick Moore’s book. “The Observers Guide to Astronomy” and Astro started all over again for me. How incredible I would find this gem again. It was obviously a sign from the heavens hehe! Then how amazing to actually meeting Patrick Moore (now CBE and soon to be Sir) in Brisbane in 1988 and have him autograph my “Observers Guide” It remains one of my treasured Astro possessions.

For over 20 years I had a dedicated outside roll off roof observatory at our home. Its first resident was a superb 14.5inch Dobsonian with Galaxy Optics mirrors and was used quite a bit to visually search for SN without success. I then became friends with the Rev Robert (Bob) Evans, the visual Supernova sleuth and he along with a now classic reference book and charts “The Supernova Search Charts” would send me headlong into a 20-year journey of CCD Supernova discovery of my own. I started my search with a Meade LX200 “classic” followed by a 2007 brand new 12inch LX200R (now ACF) on the Meade Alt Az mount then an EQ8. 2008 is where things changed dramatically when I added a Starlight Xpress CCD and discovered my first Supernovae designated SN2008fa in NGC6722.

My roll off roof observatory was my “Man Cave” with all my Astro gear which also included a significant SciFi model collection in there. Yes Steven, even Star Trek characters! Some remain and inhabit the CSO!

I spent thousands of hours in that observatory taking well over 100,000 images of Southern Galaxies as my part in the (amateur) Backyard Observatory Supernova Search (team) or BOSS, a name I came up with in 2008, it captured exactly what we were about and what we were doing. Made up of 6 friends from Australia and New Zealand, the BOSS team collectively discovered 195 Supernova, 19 of which I personally discovered. Perhaps my most rewarding discovery was SN 2016adj in NGC5128, the famous Hamburger Galaxy or Centaurus A. The Hubble Space Telescope obtained data to put together this incredible animation of the light echo from that SN following on from my discovery made in a tin shed roll of roof observatory in my backyard!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwuVXtIU0is
Supernova discovery led to some incredible and unexpected outcomes. Aside from the absolute adrenalin rush of discovery to having a Minor Planet 7527Marples named. To the BOSS team being awarded the Berenice and Arthur Page medal in 2022 for contributing to the science of Astronomy. Awarded by Professional Astronomers from the Astronomical Society Of Australia (ASA).

But then...we sold our home in 2017 and we moved to an apartment, fortunately with an open roof top deck which has now become very useful for Solar Astronomy. Also, by now SN discovery had also moved on from Amateurs making their own discoveries (though some occasionally still do) to high cadence all-sky surveys from projects like the ASASSN search at the Ohio State University (which I also contributed to). As I was now located in light pollution central I had to find another way to enjoy my Astronomy. In 2019-20 Solar Astro came back to me from my early days in the 70s of Solar Projection with my Tasco 'scopes. It really started from a classified ad for a very cheap Lunt 60mm… I guess Solar minimum worked for me in that the owner decided the cash could be used in other ways.

I couldn't put an observatory on our deck, so next best thing was the "Cupboard Solar Observatory". Wife's happy and I am happy. As someone once said (me) "happy wife.. happy hubby now with an 80mm Lunt double stack and the Cupboard Solar Observatory" hehe.

Look non of this would have been possible with the support and encouragement of my wife Wendy and our 3 children, they have shared this journey and still do.

And of course, the late, the great Patrick Moore thank you for starting it!

SolarChat has been the icing on the Solar cake so to speak. I have “chatted” and now correspond with a number of members here and I have learnt so much, but still continue to learn much more in this great environment. Thanks Steven, thanks all.

Peter

[Dennis]

My story is rather short since i started out with astronomy around 5 years ago at the age of 35. My first telescope was a Orion Starblast 4,5" F/4 mini dobson. Before that i was since childhood fascinated with optics in general and stuff you could see in a microscope and what a simple pair of binoculars could achieve on the night sky and on the neighbors : D

When i got the "starblaster" my astronomy journey started and it quickly became a new hobby, despite doing it from within the city, so focus was always on brighter objects. After i played a bit around with Baader Solar film and saw sunspots close up i knew i wanted to see more of the sun. I used a 6" F/6 Newton and Baader photographic film and started to image in k-line which was a lot of fun. Eventually i was looking at h-alpha solar telescopes but the budget was just out of reach back then.

Next thing was a 100mm F/7 ed refractor and my Quark Chromosphere "journey" began. The rest you know, the 4th sample i kept and observed and later imaged the hell out of it. Later i upgraded to a 6" achromat, meanwhile with a 9.25" aperture which works well many days per year for me.

Im thankful that i had a very good ressource of information while doing this, and this is Solar Chat and the great job the Moderators did and do. Thank you Stephen, Alexandra and Mark to make this platform happen. I learned so much here.

Dennis

[ffellah]

I am humbled by the amazing backgrounds of our members ! Such an incredibly knowledgeable and expert group. I am proud of being part of this.

Franco

[DeepSolar64]

Dennis,
You have went a long way in a short time. Which K kine filter did you start out with?

James

[Dennis]

Dennis,
You have went a long way in a short time. Which K kine filter did you start out with?

James

I used the Baader K-line filter (first gen., the double stacked one) that came with the solar film. It had a fwhm of about 8nm if i remember correctly.

[DeepSolar64]

Dennis,
You have went a long way in a short time. Which K kine filter did you start out with?

James

I used the Baader K-line filter (first gen., the double stacked one) that came with the solar film. It had a fwhm of about 8nm if i remember correctly.

Did it work ok?

[Dennis]

Dennis,
You have went a long way in a short time. Which K kine filter did you start out with?

James

I used the Baader K-line filter (first gen., the double stacked one) that came with the solar film. It had a fwhm of about 8nm if i remember correctly.

Did it work ok?

Yes it worked perfectly for what it was specified.