Solar viewing a SPOC yesterday
Those who arrived a SPOC early yesterday got a real treat. Siegfried Jachmann brought a large rejection filter with him which Bruce Grim was able to kluge to the front of the Bogdan refractor. Roger Butz then attached SLAS's newly refurbished .5 Å research grade H-Alpha filter in front of the eyepiece. The results were spectacular! Grandularity in the photosphere practically jumped out of the eyepiece at the viewer and while there weren't many prominences those that were there were contrasty and a delight to the eye. I can't wait until there's a chance to use the set up when the Sun's high in the sky (like at next month's Stansbury Day and at the Star-B- Q). Better still will be when there's more solar activity (yesterday's prominences were not very big and there were no sunspots). 'Course in order to do that SLAS is going to need to buy the rejection filter since the one Siegfried brought was only on loan from someone out of state. I think Sieg said the owner wants $400 for it. patrick
The filter works well when ambient temp is 90 degrees, we may need to send it back to resolve this issue. Roger Butz has been in contact with DayStar, we will have all issues worked out in time for solar max.
Those who arrived a SPOC early yesterday got a real treat.
Siegfried Jachmann brought a large rejection filter with him which Bruce Grim was able to kluge to the front of the Bogdan refractor. Roger Butz then attached SLAS's newly refurbished .5 â« research grade H-Alpha filter in front of the eyepiece.
The results were spectacular!
Grandularity in the photosphere practically jumped out of the eyepiece at the viewer and while there weren't many prominences those that were there were contrasty and a delight to the eye.
I can't wait until there's a chance to use the set up when the Sun's high in the sky (like at next month's Stansbury Day and at the Star-B- Q).
Better still will be when there's more solar activity (yesterday's prominences were not very big and there were no sunspots).
'Course in order to do that SLAS is going to need to buy the rejection filter since the one Siegfried brought was only on loan from someone out of state. I think Sieg said the owner wants $400 for it.
patrick _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
We should talk to Bruce about the possibility of feeding a permanent, indoor solar telescope in a SPOC building with a driven heliostat mirror. Makes thermal management MUCH easier. On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 11:37 AM, <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
The filter works well when ambient temp is 90 degrees, we may need to send it back to resolve this issue. Roger Butz has been in contact with DayStar, we will have all issues worked out in time for solar max.
Siegfried is having trouble posting to the list. I'm working on that but in the mean time here is a message he tried to post earlier today. patrick The Energy Rejection Filter (ERF) was lent by John Pons because there was concern about the quality of repair done by DayStar. After viewing through the filter with the 8” Bogdan stopped down to 4.5” I would say the filter is working great. What we were looking for was detail in the Chromoshpere and we had it in spades. It sat above the Photosphere thin and jagged. We could also see the slight separation between the Chromosphere and the Photosphere. Due to the lack of detail on the surface during a quiet Sun it is often difficult to assess the quality of the filter or total setup. The test then is the Chromosphere. The Chromosphere is not dependent on solar activity. It’s always there. This was as good as I have seen the Sun in years. The filter has a retail value around $1,000 - $1,200. It is being offered to us by John at $400. I recommend buying it and having it available to SLAS members. Perhaps a dedicated solar eyepiece should also be purchased, something like a 40mm Pentax with lots of eye- relief and a 70 deg wide AFOV. That combination would give about 85x and a .82 deg FOV. The entire disk of the Sun would easily fit into the FOV. I think it would be great to have this in place by Stansbury Days. Siegfried On 27 Jul 2008, at 22:22, Patrick Wiggins wrote:
Those who arrived a SPOC early yesterday got a real treat.
Siegfried Jachmann brought a large rejection filter with him which Bruce Grim was able to kluge to the front of the Bogdan refractor. Roger Butz then attached SLAS's newly refurbished .5 Å research grade H-Alpha filter in front of the eyepiece.
The results were spectacular!
Grandularity in the photosphere practically jumped out of the eyepiece at the viewer and while there weren't many prominences those that were there were contrasty and a delight to the eye.
I can't wait until there's a chance to use the set up when the Sun's high in the sky (like at next month's Stansbury Day and at the Star-B- Q).
Better still will be when there's more solar activity (yesterday's prominences were not very big and there were no sunspots).
'Course in order to do that SLAS is going to need to buy the rejection filter since the one Siegfried brought was only on loan from someone out of state. I think Sieg said the owner wants $400 for it.
patrick
I second Siegfried's suggestion! Ken ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Wiggins" <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 5:54 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Solar viewing a SPOC yesterday
The filter has a retail value around $1,000 - $1,200. It is being offered to us by John at $400. I recommend buying it and having it available to SLAS members. Perhaps a dedicated solar eyepiece should also be purchased, something like a 40mm Pentax with lots of eye- relief and a 70 deg wide AFOV. That combination would give about 85x and a .82 deg FOV. The entire disk of the Sun would easily fit into the FOV.
I think it would be great to have this in place by Stansbury Days.
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I do not object to that, but remember there are only a couple (1 or 2) of people who will have a use for it. IE: those with large long focal length refractors. It takes greater than f/30 for proper function. It will be good to have available at SPOC and should be stored there, perhaps it should come out of SPOC fund. That will be where it is used the most. The filter still has an issue of not reaching operating temp when outside temperature is below 80 degrees. We have wanted to limit the scopes it is mounted on. It was damaged from improper use (a hole burned in an element). DayStar said it was typical damage done by an unfiltered C8 and can occur in seconds. The scope it is on now is described by DayStar as ideal, the lens was purchased from DayStar. This should remain the way it is borrowed by club members. Erik I second Siegfried's suggestion!
Ken ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick Wiggins" <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 5:54 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Solar viewing a SPOC yesterday
The filter has a retail value around $1,000 - $1,200. It is being offered to us by John at $400. I recommend buying it and having it available to SLAS members. Perhaps a dedicated solar eyepiece should also be purchased, something like a 40mm Pentax with lots of eye- relief and a 70 deg wide AFOV. That combination would give about 85x and a .82 deg FOV. The entire disk of the Sun would easily fit into the FOV.
I think it would be great to have this in place by Stansbury Days.
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Siegfried's getting closer to being able to post directly to UA again but he's not quite there yet (his computer is in the shop). So here's another he's asked me to post for him. patrick ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My suggestion is to custom adapt the ERF only for the Bogdan refractor and to use it exclusively that way. It can be used for outreach and public events. It would also be available to key-holders at SPOC. I was not thinking in terms of this being a “loaner“ item to those of us with long refractors. There is also a group that comes out to SPOC early enough to benefit from some solar viewing on public nights. Saturday was such an example. I thought I was getting there early with the Sun still up and there were 4 or 5 cars already there. I agree that the 50mm scope is very good on the Sun and should remain the portable configuration. But the 8” stopped down to 112.5 mm is soooo much better. I recall the 8” being an F16.8. That puts it at about 3414mm FL. The view we had Saturday of the surface and chromosphere was the most encouraging view I have had for a long time. There were also several prominences around, including one very decent complex. My recommendation is we buy the filter. It probably should come out of the SPOC fund and would be a SPOC decision.
That all sounds very reasonable. Long refractors are best installed in observatories where they are not so subject to wind shake. I prefer seeing the entire disk of sun, I suspect the magnification at 3400 fl you only see a partial disk, at least comfortably.
An eyepiece to go with it would be nice and I suspect it would also be good eyepiece for star parties. The BOD should decide where the funds come from. Erik Siegfried's getting closer to being able to post directly to UA again
but he's not quite there yet (his computer is in the shop).
So here's another he's asked me to post for him.
patrick
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My suggestion is to custom adapt the ERF only for the Bogdan refractor and to use it exclusively that way. It can be used for outreach and public events. It would also be available to key-holders at SPOC. I was not thinking in terms of this being a loaner item to those of us with long refractors.
There is also a group that comes out to SPOC early enough to benefit from some solar viewing on public nights. Saturday was such an example. I thought I was getting there early with the Sun still up and there were 4 or 5 cars already there.
I agree that the 50mm scope is very good on the Sun and should remain the portable configuration. But the 8 stopped down to 112.5 mm is soooo much better. I recall the 8 being an F16.8. That puts it at about 3414mm FL. The view we had Saturday of the surface and chromosphere was the most encouraging view I have had for a long time. There were also several prominences around, including one very decent complex.
My recommendation is we buy the filter. It probably should come out of the SPOC fund and would be a SPOC decision. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
participants (4)
-
Chuck Hards -
erikhansen＠TheBlueZone.net -
Ken Harris -
Patrick Wiggins