First PST image

[seeker372011]

Yesterday morning I took advantage of a fine day ..ToUcam at prime focus of the PST.

stack of -oh something like 100 frames, and processed in photshop

much to learn, but hey its a start.

This face had no prominences that I could capture

comments and suggestions and any input most welcome..

[seeker372011]

and here's another image, of the other side of the sun

[Lester]

Hi, the second shot shows what looks like the beginning of a prominence,(I am only guessing)

Keep em comming.

[iceman]

Nice on Narayan, we don't see any PST images here so yours will be a welcome change.

I look forward to seeing more from you, as you head along the learning curve!

[Robert_T]

That second one looks like a navel orange :D

nice to see something a little different; here's to sol :thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Good to see something different! Keep them coming!

Al.

[RB]

Great work Narayan, I agree it's nice to see something different.
Keep them coming.

[seeker372011]

LOL

yes I am quite enjoying the PST...its fun visually as well.

[Miaplacidus]

Nice pics, seeker. I haven't succeeded in getting any decent images with mine yet, although visually it delivers very good images.

I've had my PST for several months now. I find that I see more detail with it presently than when I first bought it. It varies a bit, though. Probably unsurprisingly it seems to deliver better images on cold days. I suspect that there is a compromise between having the sun at reasonable elevation and using it before the air warms up. I want to try observing with it over a body of water to see if that makes a difference. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, I can usually use up to a 10mm Pentax EP with it (40x). What magnifications do other users manage to extract detail with?

Cheers,

Brian.

[ving]

nice narayan :)
bit 'o a pimple on that second one :)

[seeker372011]

I was initially disconcerted to find that with the 20mm Kellner supplied as standard with the PST, I had huge blackout areas ..so also with my 25 mm Ploessl..the best views are with my 10mm Ploessl both with and without a Barlow -so the maximum I have gone is that. Seeing is an issue most of the time..so observing over a body of water is probably a sensible thing to try.

I personally found that more eyerelief is "bad"-caused so much blackout I thought I had a defective unit! With this particular eyepiece the views are however quite satisfying.

It has been suggested to me in another forum these problems are caused by two factors:

one the PST design intrinsically which delivers a very small sweet spot and two the fact that the pupil is considerably contracted in the daytime (compared to night time viewing)

My 10mm has the least eyerelief and I can actually hold my eye up close to the rubber thingummies and this gives me the best views. Also a sturdy tripod is a must. Tried a camera tripod..no good. Tried with an EQ 2 ..better. Finally piggy backed on my 8 Inch newt (properly protected of course-I actually used electrical tape to tape all the covers in place) on a CG5..and its great.

However it maybe because this is a new toy but I have had it out very opportunity. The sun's always doing something!

Havent been ablle to image with the Canon A 85 yet.. a lot of people are taking afocal images very successfully.

come on, who else has a PST, what are your comments? :)

Yes David, there was a bit of a prominence alright but poor processing turned a delicate set of fine flares into a pimple!

Narayan

[Miaplacidus]

The constricted pupil size is certainly an issue. I find a 15 mm and 10 mm plossl also very good. (Even the cheap EPs seem to do a decent job. I guess maybe because we are viewing only one wavelength of light. Though interestingly, I never found the included Kellner much use either.)

I've read other comments about the long eye relief, but I have no problem with the Pentax - maybe it is because I can screw my eye right into the eyecup just so.

I do use a Velbon camera tripod and have found it OK. Sometimes I piggyback it on the Megrez (with white light solar filter) on a TV Panoramic mount. The best thing I did was make a rectangular screen out of some stiff foam that sits over the tube. This provides shade for looking in the eyepiece (the purists cover everything but the front of the tube in a sheet, but I can't be bothered with that). It also acts as an easy solar finder (i.e. by minimizing the shadow of the OTA), though of course the PST has its own solar finder. Still, using the OTA shadow gets me close enough anyway.

I tried both a webcam and my Canon A70. Neither was particularly satisfactory. Maybe I should persevere with stacking. A pity, because the visual detail is quite impressive. You're right Narayan, there's almost always something to see in the way of prominences and flares, and now I seem to see significant detail on the disk as well. I'm really looking forward to the transit of Mercury come November.

Originally I bought the PST because winter observing in Hobart (for me at least) often comes to a standstill. I consider it a bit of a luxury item: for $900 I get far more use out of a dob. I've heard that "double stacking" with a 40mm second Colorado filter creates even more fantastic views. I would like to try that one day.

[seeker372011]

Yes I have already put in for the day off in November ...missed the last transit of Mercury, thought I'd get away from work and got caught in a meeting. (For the Venus transit of course I took the day off-but only observed in white light ). Will be nice to observe in H alpha, that's for sure


..double stacking guess that will have to wait for the lottery..it took me a year just to save up for the PST!
Narayan