solar viewing lx90

mozzie (Peter) · #1 30-10-2009, 05:57 PM

my solar filter came today struggled to align it with the sun its hard not to look at the sun directly any body have some good ideas its on my lx90 also the autostar has no goto for the sun and the sun doesnt have a sao number how else can i track it
mozzie

sheeny (Al) · #2 30-10-2009, 06:41 PM

Pete,

What I used to do with my C8 was use the shadow to align the scope on the sun. Look at the shadow of the OTA... when it's perfectly round, it's pointing at the sun.

I was fortunate with my C8, because there was a little gap between the dovetail and the OTA, so when it was really precisely aligned on the sun, I could see the bright spot in that position.

Have a good look through the menu system as well. My CG5 had an option to turn the sun "on" in the planets menu to allow the mount to point at the sun. It defaulted to off for safety sake, but I never used it anyway

... I just aligned using the shadow of the OTA.

Al.

mozzie (Peter) · #3 30-10-2009, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheeny

Pete,

What I used to do with my C8 was use the shadow to align the scope on the sun. Look at the shadow of the OTA... when it's perfectly round, it's pointing at the sun.

I was fortunate with my C8, because there was a little gap between the dovetail and the OTA, so when it was really precisely aligned on the sun, I could see the bright spot in that position.

Have a good look through the menu system as well. My CG5 had an option to turn the sun "on" in the planets menu to allow the mount to point at the sun. It defaulted to off for safety sake, but I never used it anyway

... I just aligned using the shadow of the OTA.

Al.

thanks al that was how i aligned late in the arvo but during the middle of the day i struggled especilly in the pod i think that autostar had the sun and a couple of updates later its not there i just want to use autostar so it stayes in the eyepiece i park the scope of a night
mozzie

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 30-10-2009, 08:14 PM

Buy some solar film and make a filter for your finder.
Makes aligning a piece of cake.

AndrewJ · #5 30-10-2009, 08:32 PM

Gday Mozzie

There is a really elegant cheat involved

Go to Weasners ETX site and look at the Sun as asteroid section
( I would give you an URL but PlOptus still blocks the site for me )

Basically, a very clever sod generated an asteroid that is an exact copy of earth, but out of phase by 1/2 a year
Thus, every time you "goto" it, the bl#&dy sun is in the way.
It still only tracks at sidereal rate, so minor tweaks are required to keep it centred, but its very accurate.

As to a solar finder, a bit of 25mm PVC pipe ( say 50mm to 75mm long ) and some masking tape is perfect.
Tape the pipe to yr OTA ( or use a fancy holder if you want )
Put masking tape over the front of the pipe with a pinhole in the middle.
Put masking tape over the rear
Once lined up on the sun, use a texta to draw a cross on the rear tape
where you see the projected image of the sun
Works perfectly and cost nothing.

Andrew

mozzie (Peter) · #6 30-10-2009, 10:16 PM

thanks jjj and andrew simple things often work the best
mozzie

mozzie (Peter) · #7 31-10-2009, 09:23 AM

parked the scope last night,powered it up this morning went to sirius close to centre centered it hooked up starry night slew to sun disconnected starry night put pc back in house dome gets a little hot done tracking on sun all day woo hoo

no spots thes morning hows that for a easy way to align

in the solar filter instructions they say to cover the top of scope to keep heat down i put a smalltowel over if covered telrad and finder scope with it as well is this a good idea
mozzie

AndrewJ · #8 31-10-2009, 01:34 PM

Gday Mozzie

Quote:

hows that for a easy way to align

Unparking is normally a good way to "align"

But you definitely have a sneaky way to centre the sun
Soooo, make a simple finder once aligned on the sun
Next unpark, just use it to manually centre the sun
and it will keep tracking, No lappie reqd at all.

Andrew

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #9 31-10-2009, 06:05 PM

I noticed this with my EQ6PRO as well - no option for the Sun in the hand controller, absolutely BLOODY well stupid imho. Epic fail. What is it with manufacturer's designers?

Dave

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #10 31-10-2009, 07:15 PM

These pages might help.

http://www.weasner.com/etx/autostar/as_sun.html

http://www.weasner.com/etx/techtips/...olaralign.html

Cheers,

Brian.

AndrewJ · #11 31-10-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

no option for the Sun in the hand controller, absolutely BLOODY well stupid imho. Epic fail. What is it with manufacturer's designers?

I think you will find its lawyers/insurers, not designers behind it.
The designers have actually given you a means but you have to "actively" pusue it, vs blindly ( no pun intended ) push a button.
Its just another part of the nanny state reducing everything to a
level of the lowest common denominator, where if someone "could" hurt themselves through ignorance, someone can profit from it,
hence no one can have it.

Andrew