Here is Sunspot 904 from this morning in less than average seeing. There were occasional still moments where one of the spots snapped into focus but alas, these moments were too rare and too infrequent. Now if I had a DMK…….
C9.25 prime focus with full aperture Baader solar film.
Philips ToUcam 840K.
Brisbane
11th August 2006
10:55am AEST (GMT+10)
Acquired via K3CCDTools.
Processed in Registax.
4 frames from 1200.
Wavelets 1=10.
Cheers
Dennis
PS - Just for the heck of it, I threw in a poor result from plugging in the Vixen x2 Barlow for one of the avi’s.
Is there any area of astrophotography you DON'T do Dennis?? lol.
Top stuff.
Hey John,
Scopestuff delivered my new beaut Astrozap full aperture Baader solar filter yesterday, so I just had to try it today! These are 1st solar light images for the C9.25. Boy, the OTA and metal parts really warmed up in the balmy 25 deg C Qld weather today.
I used my Bintel supplied Meade 647 flip mirror today too, for the first time - this is a really nice, well engineered piece of kit, with "Made in Japan" on the side.
In terms of new gear, I feel like Striker’s apprentice today.
I've taken a sabbatical from work, just to enjoy marching to the beat of my own drum for a short while. Now each day I wake up, I get this lovely warm feeling of well being, originating and radiating out from my solar plexus, knowing that I am a free man. Until the money runs out that is.
You amaze me beyond words Dennis.
All I can say is well done once again.
So you recommend the Astrozap full aperture Baader solar filter?
Hi Andrew
Thanks! It's early days yet, but I was surprised at how the image held up at prime focus on the C9.25, as I usually use the Vixen 4inch refractor for sun spots.
The Astrozap solar filter is well made and finished, and comes with 3 plastic locking screws at 120 deg, to firmly hold the aluminium ring on the C9.25, which I like for safety reasons.
I acquired the Astrozap solar filter to use on the C9.25 to avoid having to remove the C9.25, counterweights, etc and switch to the Vixen 4” and after today’s use, I am very pleased with the results. I have in the past, used a premium glass solar filter on the Vixen, but my preference is now for Baader solar film, which I find to be superior both visually and photographically.
The eyeball image through a Meade 32mm Plossl (x73) was quite pleasing but when I fitted the Vixen 9mm Lanthanum (x261) it turned to mush. My TeleVue 15mm Widefield (x156) was acceptable, but still a little soft, although the seeing was quite poor (jet stream map showed yellow).
The Meade 647 is an object of beauty and really, really helps with centering the image. However, it is a monster in size, although not weight, requiring some extra 4 inches in back focus, so I suspect it will only work on SCT’s with their generous back focus.
Here is today's effort with the same set up. Seeing was poor (3 to 4/10) so I used 2 alignment points in Registax, but still only managed to have use of 25 and 18 frames respectively from 1800 in the avi.
I'd be real interested to hear your thoughts on the seeing and whether it's related to the heat build up in your OTA. I guess you'll form an opinion over time. I have read some stuff about heat build up in SCT OTAs when using solar filters... enough for me to go with the PST (among other things), but your results are promising!
I didn't get much chance to play with the sun spots this weekend. Only managed to get the PST out at about 4:30 this arvo, but spennt a good hour or so studying them.
Ok Dennis, you've impressed me AGAIN! I like the idea of using the c9.25 for Solar Work.... it seems I'm Striker's apprentice's apprentice cos every time Dennis get's a nwe gizmo for the c9.25 I have to too... astrozap was it?
.
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