Sol'Ex, a compact SHG (how to assemble and observe)

[CBuil]

Hi all,

Sol'Ex (Solar Explorer), is a compact SHG that you can make yourself by 3D printing. The idea is to make a low cost but still performing instrument. See all the details on this web page : http://www.astrosurf.com/solex/sol-ex-p ... on-en.html

For a quick overview of the assembly of this instrument, you can watch this video: https://youtu.be/fh24I_1G9p0

For a quick overview of the use and capabilities (here with a very small telescope!), you can view this video: https://youtu.be/n-SpuCClgfg

See also the Youtune Astro-Spectro channel: https://www.youtube.com/@astro-spectro280/videos

Good discovery,

Christian Buil

[Montana]

A very warm and sunny welcome Christian, this is invaluable information.

Many thanks for your amazing research in bringing SHG imaging to such a high level

Alexandra

[ffellah]

Thank you, Christian, for all the links and sharing this beautiful project. I received the parts from Shelyak and should receive the 3D printed parts very soon. Hope to assemble within a week or two and start calibrating and learning to capture and process.

Franco

[vineyard]

Hi Christian, thanks for this. I have assembled my Sol'Ex and got the camera side to focus. But when I insert it into the Sol'Ex and point it at the sky, there are no spectrum lines that appear. When the slit and collimator block are off, there is unfocused signal that is coming back off the grating as signal into the camera. But when I put the collimator block in, even with gain 400 and 10s exposure there is just black. I'm probably doing something very silly, but I'm not sure what it is?

Thanks for any help you can suggest!

EDIT: Actually I figured out the problem, the orientation of the grating in the housing was all wrong. So I adjusted it and the spectral lines appeared! Now to follow the rest of the instructions around getting all the lines sharp!