It’s been a while since I wrote my last post and still have no new images as I’ve been very busy with work and the weather has not been very good. But I worked on the “hardware” side to be prepared for my next “serious” session, probably tomorrow already. I decide to get a Lunt Solar BF 12 in place of the original Coronado BF5. I took the 1.25 diagonal version (code B1200d1) and I made the right choice. I […]
Categories: Hardware
I’ve been stopped by a problem with my Skywatcher HEQ5 mount. Without the mount I can’t do anything as the tubes (Omni 120 and Vixen A80M) are both too heavy for the other mounts I have. So I had to wait for a new the motherboard to arrive and replace the burned with it. In the meanwhile I decide to go for a semi-stationary mounting setup using the HEQ5 and the steep tripod. I won’t use the Berlebach wood one […]
There’s a new baby in town Using the same pieces I used for the Vixen A80M and Celestron Omni 120 XLT PST Mods, this morning I converted my Skywatcher 102/500 into a HA telescope. I putted the D-ERF inside the dewcap. Removed the focuser and used the Vixen A80M alluminium tube adapter this time “inside” the Skywatcher tube so that I can easily put the “PST Mod” block in it. Measured prime focus distance and placed the etalon at the […]
I finally finished working on the Celestron Omni 120 XLT HA setup and today I wanted desperately to test And I did it. It’s very cloudy here but I’ve been able to record this single shot. Considering that the recording has clouds passing through and that it was also windy I’m very happy with the result.I’ll have to wait a couple of days before testing it more seriously Here’s a picture of how I shortened the distance between the first focuser […]
I’ve been able today to find a way to place the etalon at the right (200mm) distance from the prime focus. Thanks to the double focuser setup (one before the etalon and one between the etalon and the BF) I’ve been able to also take some comparison shots between different etalon positions. First of all I have to say that I wasn’t sure if it was the case to process the videos or not as it was cloudy and so […]
Categories: Hardware
I made more test images today with the Omni XLT 120 setup. Sunny but really bad seeing. I tried with the Vixen A80M just to see it was the Omni setup or what. And the seeing was bad with the Vixen as well so it must be the seeing. Tomorrow I’ll try again hoping to be luckier. Those are a few images I took. Good but not to test the real potential of the new setup
Today I had the chance to test the PST Etalon/BF on the Celestron Omni XLT 120. It’s not the perfect setup as the Etalon is not placed perfectly at 200mm from the prime focus point. I still need to take it 1/1,5cm forward but I was curious to see if I was able to reach the focus and try the different D-ERF positions. Differently from the Vixen A80M setup, I had to place the D-ERF inside the Omni 120 tube […]
Yesterday I got a couple of “CaK” filter that I wanted to try stacking together and reduce the bandpass by tilting them.So I started to think how to build a filter tilter and then I came up with a simple yet working homemade filter tilter. It is made mainly out of a couple of T2/1.25″ extentions. I glued two filter holders to the screws of each of them. That way by turning the screw I also tilt the filter. The […]
Categories: Hardware
February has been an incredibe month for my solar imaging “evolution” under every aspect: technical, processing and post-processing and knowledge. By a technical point of view I passed from a simple single stack Coronado PST, to a stage 1 Coronado PST mod by using a Vixen A80M stacked to PST’s blackbox, to a stage PST mod by using only the etalon and the BF5 from the original PST on the Vixen refractor. On the processing/post-processing side I discovered AutoStakkert2! and […]
Categories: H-Alpha, Hardware, Software, White Light
Finally today I got the Crayfor SC focuser and I can go with phase 2 PST Mod on the Vixen A80M.I already tested it briefly… now I’m processing the images. They won’t be great as we had a sunny but very windy day. It seems that my “first light” has to be done with the wind Anyway… here are a few pictures of my Frankenscope Isn’t “she” (it’s a “Vixen”) lovely? I’ll post first captures later, after processing.
Categories: Hardware
Finally the Baader D-ERF arrived with the custom aluminium cell for the Vixen A80M. The D-ERF is 75mm diameter. Everything fits smoothly and now the H-Alpha setup is ready. At least Phase 1: attach the PST blackbox to the Vixen A80M. The setup is also very easy to remove and restore the original Vixen look and functionality: remove the D-ERF cell, remove the PST adaptor, put back the focuser… done in 2 minutes. Unfortunately today has been a sunny but very windy day. […]
Categories: Hardware
Finally today I’ve been able to put my hands on a special adaptor that a friend of mine made for me so I can use the Coronado PST “blackbox” on a Vixen A80M acro. The adaptor is very simple, light but solid. It’s made of aluminium. You can see a few pictures of the adaptor and how it attaches to the Vixen here: Now I’m waiting for the Baader D-ERF with custom cell for the Vixen to arrive from Germany […]
Categories: Hardware
Observing The Sun