It's not going to be sunny for a while!

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi,

Working on the basis that when someone gets a new telescope its not clear at night, I just had 1st light with my Baader Solar Wedge and a 120mm F8 Skywatcher scope I picked up for £110 (its in perfect nick, the wedge costs 5x the scope?).

If you have never looked through a white light wedge with a solar continum filter you don't know what your missing, it really is fantastic, with a 20mm eyepiece I get the full sun and a little space around it  You see all the surface detail, sun spots and also the cracks and movement in the surface, no prominances this is the domain of a Ha or K filter, although I can't see anything with a K I've tried.

Here's an image of the little baby, I need to adjust the focuser so its smoooth, but it all works and has enough back focus for the DSLR, ED series do not!  It's a bit misty this morning but I have pushed the scope upto approx 120x with no issues.



IMG_1882 by chrissuddell, on Flickr


The Solar continuum filter narrows the bandwith sililar to an Ha filter for nightime this give a assive increase in contrast.  Technical details in this page, http://www.telescope-service.com/baader/solar/solar.html

Now where is my web cam?

Chris

[JohnP]

Look forward to some images...

[MarkS]

I knew there had to be a reason for the sudden downpours of rain and the weather forecasters warning us to put the BBQ back into long-term storage.

Sounds really good though!  How long have you had the wedge?  I'm looking forward to some images.  That scope sounds like a bargain.

Mark

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi Mark,

I have had the wedge since the end of the last solar cycle, typical eh!  But its all good now even today there was a nice little set of spots to look at, and to be honest I can't pull the late nights everyone else is

Chris

[MarkS]

... to be honest I can't pull the late nights everyone else is

I know what you mean.  At this time of year it means imaging from midnight until 2am.  It's a bit of a killer when you have to get up for work the following day.  At least I can sleep on the train - it used to be impossible to sleep on the bike!

Mark

[Carole]

it used to be impossible to sleep on the bike!

[Fay]

Chris your lawn looks like Hampton Court!!!!!

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi Fay,

It's actually in need of a cut at the moment, but the veg are doing ok

Chris

[MarkS]

It's the hedges that look like Hampton Court!

Where's the maze entrance?

[Mac]

Chris your lawn looks like Hampton Court!!!!!

It is Hampton Court.