Vegemite etalon tuner Upgrade

[Merlin66]

Well, after almost ten years of use, my Vegemite etalon tuner has been "upgraded"
I replaced the "hand controller" lid with a SW electronic motor...extended the control cable (now 5mtr) to allow me to remotely control the etalon tuning from the office.
I now have control of focusing, scanning and etalon tuning from the office desk.
I had a few minutes (!!) of clear sky this morning, just enough time to image the proms....using the tuner allows the image on the screen to show immediately the impact of the Doppler shift, I could clearly see differences in intensities between the blue and red wing...pretty neat!
Martin (Q'land) is trialling a similar (but a bit more sophisticated!!) drive system on his set-up.
First image shows the original "manual" set-up from around 2009.

Recommended to all with front tilt tuned etalons......

[Tinderboxsky]

Very clever. I like it.

[hamishbarker]

love your work Ken!

[Merlin66]

Thanks guys, appreciated.
Sometimes the simplest solution is the one which works for you.
May not be elegant, but I can assure you it works 100%.
Recommended.

[N1]

Excellent posts Ken, keep 'em coming. I don't respond to many but enjoy them nonetheless, solar updates and great hacks like this alike! I haven't forgotten about the CaK one either. One day....

[Merlin66]

Mirko,
Thanks mate!
I find Ha solar scope users have difficulty with two things....focus and etalon tuning.
A single etalon system (PST, Solarmax, Lunt) will always show the spiculation layer (between the "white light" Photosphere and the Ha Chromosphere) at the solar edge....this sometimes confuses the novice when trying to find best focus.
This is best resolved by using a feature (if any!!) on the surface, or a brighter prominence as a focus point. A motorised focuser certainly helps. Practise....

Tuning: Red wing/ On band/ Blue wing???? Doppler shift???
All tilt tuners are set towards the Red wing when closed...
Opening the tilt adjuster moves the central wavelength from the Red wing across the Ha ("On-band") towards the Blue wing - and and eventually to the background continuum.

When "On-band" the image is brightest and the contrast greatest.

One of the best and "Wow" images I've seen for a while was one uploaded by Josef in 2016 - he clearly shows the transition from White light features to Chromospheric features while tuning from the Blue to the Red
Amazing stuff!!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/im0ujj8fmzdrcdh/josef_ar2553_edge.gif?dl=0

Ken