Expand your horizons with Solar Astronomy and Imaging!!
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- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2024
- Why are we always waiting for clouds to clear at night? Why don't we observe and capture an ever-changing, amazingly beautiful star that is so close to us, the Sun? We should, and so I started doing so! In this video, we go through the process of getting the equipment, finding and centering the sun in the telescope, tuning, focusing, observing, and finally imaging!
Support Me!
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Amazon Affiliate Link: amzn.to/3bZ43ai (you can buy anything on Amazon after clicking the link to support me!)
General affiliate link to OPT: bit.ly/2OIw6jH
Solar Equipment (affiliate links):
Coronado Solar Telescopes (mine): bit.ly/3gcqnOr
Lunt Solar Telescopes: bit.ly/3aDdOdB
Daystar Solar Telescopes: bit.ly/3267YO7
Daystar Quark Chromosphere Eyepiece: bit.ly/3l08DJN
Cameras for Solar Imaging:
ZWO ASI174MM: bit.ly/3gwBySZ
QHY QHY 5-III 174: bit.ly/31aMeSc
Other equipment I own (or similar/related):
Cameras
ZWO ASI1600MM Pro: bit.ly/2CLmHVV
ZWO ASI533MC Pro: bit.ly/3fKPmsv
Mounts
Skywatcher AZ-EQ5: bit.ly/3ib4Jvq
SkyWatcher EQ6-R Mount: bit.ly/2OEXkYl
SkyWatcher AZ-GTi mount: bit.ly/2DKgmuC
SkyWatcher Wedge: bit.ly/2PHDAE6
iOptron AZ Mount Pro: bit.ly/33pogE9
Guiding
Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED bit.ly/3jtiLtR
ZWO ASI178MM: bit.ly/30qqbFu
QHY MiniGuideScope: bit.ly/2WD6bOA
QHY5L-IIM: bit.ly/3jpcE9y
Focusers, filters, filter wheels
ZWO EAF: bit.ly/2OCp13U
ZWO EAF Advanced Bundle: bit.ly/2ODHjlt
ZWO EFW 8x1.25" Or 31mm: bit.ly/30oN3VD
ZWO EFW 7x36mm: bit.ly/2CrnhrY
ZWO Mini filter wheel: bit.ly/32v1JoZ
Astrodon filters: bit.ly/3fHiPne
ZWO Duo-band filter: bit.ly/2PUP07s
Optics
Vixen R200SS + Coma corrector: bit.ly/2OFW8E0
Vixen R200SS: bit.ly/2OGq6YJ
Vixen PH Corrector / Reducer for R200SS: bit.ly/3fHicKo
Coronado SolarMax Solar Telescope: bit.ly/2ZIT9kv
Others
Artseky Flat Panel: bit.ly/3jtj8of
Telegizmos 365 Cover: bit.ly/2CMOrt8
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My Instagram: / cuivlazygeek
My Facebook page: / cuivlazygeek
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I've resisted any big purchases for awhile now, but I am pretty tempted by the Quark Chromosphere. Great video as usual!
Thanks Nico! The Quark Chromosphere is a really nice piece of kit. But yes, it's not cheap!
Yeah, that Quark works great, but if it's too hot it may not cool when you tune it. I was trying to use it in 99 degree weather.
The Quark is wonderful..I have had the Prominence model and wish I had listened to DayStar's advice and picked the Chromosphere. I have solved that by getting the Gemini - A Quark which is both prom and chromo with the pull of a cremesicle stick!
Bit CUIV for the love that is all solar, please please PLEASE stop calling the Quark an Eyepiece! It is just as much a solar etalon and blocking filter (of sorts) that can take an Eyepiece (low power please) to bring your F/6 - 8 refractor to F/30. In some scopes you may need a Barlow or (preferably) PowerMate to flatten the entire visual or photographic field. Even DayStar puts Eyepiece in quotation marks. It is a Hydrogen Alpha Filter, put into a refractor where an Eyepiece would go. That's the proper way to say it.
But then again you got 'Lazy' right? Thanks!
Hope that made you want to do some solar astronomy! It's a lot of fun! Also some news, I also have an Amazon affiliate account now - if you need to buy anything from Amazon and want to support me, you can do so after following this Amazon link: amzn.to/3bZ43ai
Just got my Lunt 100MT double stack. Can't wait to try it out! Should be absolutely stunning from all I've read.
Cuiv! Your channel name is LAZY geek... You are churning out video's like crazy! Very impressive!
Solar Astronomy I won't do before my kids get at an age that they don't play in the garden that much...
Maybe I'm just selectively lazy :D thanks Martin!
1:35 just grab a good welding helmet, they block the heat and can be adjusted. Mine can get dark enough to not see the sun, that being said if you can get better equipment then get it.
Great video Cuiv. I'm getting into solar and found this video extremely helpful. I bought the Coronado Solar Max lll 70mm with double stack filters. Question: How did you align your mount? One star alignment or just the wall shadow trick you demonstrated? Yes I'd like to see how you process your solar videos
So interesting, solar really is a whole new experience. Thanks!
It's a lot of fun too! Thanks for the feedback!
I really love the way you work sir.... Specially in case of solar imaging
I've been watching your videos for a while and they are incredibly inspiring and educational. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who drops expensive cameras! But at least mine fall into the grass! Great to see you share my enthusiasm for solar imaging. The sun is so dynamic that I've added timelapse to my imaging (with the ASI174mm--love it). Incredible to speed up time and see what happens in the space of a couple of hours. One thing for me that's indispensable even in solar imaging is flats. Dust eventually enters the picture and I have to cope with Newton's Rings too. I just place a plastic bag over the objective with an elastic band and have Sharpcap take the flats. If I don''t have a bag handy I take flats with everything out of focus. Voila! BTW I love your videos on location in Tokyo. I've lived off and on in Japan (Hokkaido) and miss not being able to get back right now so I can experience my second home vicariously through you. Keep up the good work and I'd love to hear more about astrophotography in Japan.
Thanks Gary! I didn't drop anything? Even if I did you didn't see anything :) True, I should have mentioned flats more! The bag trick is great I will try this next time I can see the sun, thank you!
Cuiv, The Lazy Geek I’ve been known to hallucinate in the hot sun😉so my imagination must have been playing tricks.
Superbe 👍..!!!! Bravo
I can feel the credit card warming. Thanks for pointing out that the cromosphere is the model to go for, I have wondered that. Have a good one! Clear Skies
Oooh that poor credit card - make sure it doesn't cry out to the CFO! Definitely Chromosphere indeed - enjoy!
fantastic video as always i got my set up a month ago its got the quark chromosphere filter a 120 mm celestron XLT scope , the Altair Astro 174M fan cooled with Extremely fast frame rates of up to 160fps and Global shutter eliminates motion distortion an AA diagonal and AA ir/uv 2" cut filter and a AA ERF , fantastic to see the sun and image it
Thank you David! I just absolutely love doing solar imaging and viewing, and with the right equipment it is a huge lot of fun!
Cuiv, thanks for the video - it got me into Solar Astronomy! A Televue Sol Searcher is an effective way to find the Sun. Considering the other costs, it isn't prohibitively expensive. Or you can use the shadow of the DS or lens hood to cast a uniform shadow on the clamshell/mount e.g. about 4mm in all directions - and then you will be on the target. Simon
Thanks Simon - and yes this absolutely makes sense, thanks for sharing!
Awesome videos and your enthusiasm is viral.
Thank you Jami! :)
3.3k and growing! Keep it up!
Yeah! Let's do this! :-D
Great info! Thanks man! That scope is brutal! I just bought the SS80 from Daystar, which looks very promising! One note over the video: There´s a black dot cruising your sun frame, from the bottom left, to the middle left. It exactly shows up at 22:38. Maybe a satelite or a bird?
I know this is an old comment, but going down to 0.25x speed shows some wings flapping. it would've been much clearer if it was a satelite.
I have been contemplating this for some time. Now I will see how you do it. Your videos are very helpful, thank you.
It's really a lot of fun! And it is very rewarding :-)
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I have a WO Z81 I think would be ok with the Quark.
@@thefourgrapples2810 oh definitely!
I would love to see you processing of solar images. Great video!
Got it, thanks for the feedback! Will probably do a video on the topic!
Hello, the seeing looks really good. Where you took the image ? or where it is located?
Thanks,
Incredible how much info I keep picking up from you Cuiv. I did not know you had a Quark , I am glad you spoke highly of it since I just got one for my poor old ED80 (F7.5) that was feeling bad being put in the closet. I could not be happier with the Quark so far as I have seen some of the best live view flares ever - even my wife was impressed. I am not that familiar with SharpCap yet so thanks for the autohistogram tip for focusing - that is one of my problems, the other being bad seeing. I also played around with IMPPG a couple of months ago and was planning to try it out more. In the mean time I am using your MLT method in PI and also Photoshop. - Thanks again Cheers.
It's an amazing piece of kit, isn't it? You should check this video: ruclips.net/video/-zD4EIGBess/видео.html it helps a lot!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks!
Sir, am a big fan of you..... Your videos are remarkable.... And plz also try to make a detailed video of watching sunspots especially in the evening.... Thx
Cuiv, if you have not done it yet, find info and an image from a new (I think) 4m solar telescope in Hawaii. It can see features on the surface as small as 30 km. If I am not mistaken, typical size of the cells on the surface is 1000 km, i.e., much smaller than the Earth's diameter.
I saw that, it's amazing right! It's in Fe XI bandpass, so it can actually show cells - the hair-like strands seen in H-alpha are much longer (I belive), but I'm no expert!
Hey Cuiv, awesome image. I really like the idea of a patreon with perhaps different tiers. One that maybe allows for questions to be submitted and answered maybe through Q&A videos. Or perhaps just directly.
Thanks Greg! I think all tiers will have access to a messaging feature to me, and I'd be putting my efforts into answering queries from my backers. And maybe the highest tier will have the ability to set a one hour Skype session with me twice a year or something like that (for advice, suggestions, remote help, etc.), like Nico from Nebula Photos has done :) Thanks for the feedback!
Looking forward to it !
hahaha... I didn't hear, see, or say anything. Thank you for this video!
That's because nothing happened :D
Great video, love your enthusiasm. Shame you have that self-view in the bottom right of the screen. It obscured the histogram and left me clueless as to what you did to increase the contrast while focusing. I assume you stretched it?
So cool, maybe a better idea then night work…hmmm
2:53 H alpha is H alpha, if you want to use it on the sun then get one specified for the sun or stack the normal one with a white light filter if you can't get one specific to the sun, not the best solution but it's functional if you want get the alpha sun filters. Just don't use a normal filter by itself unless you want your eyes to be husks of puss and sadness.
WARNING: I am about to parrot a shitload of people far more knowledgeable on this topic than I am. I have not yet viewed the Sun in either white light or H-alpha as of this time. This is basically a forum post with a (hopefully) accurate explanation of why H-alpha is, in fact, _not_ H-alpha. TL;DR deep sky H-alpha isn't nearly accurate enough in isolation to be useful on the Sun. I hope this will be enlightening to anyone that stumbles across this in the future.
The problem with solar H-alpha is that the light we want to isolate, which is coming from the chromosphere, is VERY dim compared to the incredible amount of white light being emitted by the photosphere, which easily washes it out. So you need to allow basically just a single wavelength, or as close as you can get to it, and _nothing else_ to pass through the eyepiece.
Deep sky H-alpha is typically measured in tens of nanometers, but solar H-alpha is measured in single-digit _angstroms_ at the entry-level, sub-angstrom for the good stuff. An angstrom is a tenth (0.1) of a nm, for reference. So a deep sky filter cannot isolate the wavelength of light coming from the chromosphere with an adequate degree of accuracy. It doesn't even come close, in fact.
And even if it theoretically could, for the sake of a thought experiment - the requisite white light filter in front of it is already blocking 99.999% of the _filtered_ light, which as discussed is already quite dim, so you wouldn't be able to see anything anyways.
I _have_ heard that using a simple red-tinted planetary filter can help cut through atmospheric haze, however, and that shorter wavelength planetary filters (say, blue or purple, maybe green) can improve detail at the cost of greater sensitivity to seeing conditions. An H-alpha deep sky filter would probably have an effect similar to a basic red filter.
_Whew._
No, using night time Ha with white light filter is wrong. First, with white light filter you block Ha in the same amount as other wavelengths. And second, night time Ha is like 3nm, 6nm, 12 nm. Daytime Ha (0.5Å) is 0.05nm. Much more narrow than night time Ha.
Another great video and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I would love to see your processing method and would appreciate seeing a video on this. I have a question off topic though ....what was going on with your pants leg length :) ? Love your work
Just the mic cable getting caught in it :)
Great video!!! Would you recommend the Coronado 40/400 pst?? Thank you
Thank you Karen! I've never owned one, but I've looked through a Coronado 40/400 PST and yes the view there was quite impressive - in fact it's what originally got me into H-Alpha solar astronomy in the first place :) It's a great -gateway drug- starting telescope for solar astronomy!
I bought the Daystar 60mm Scout in Chromosphere and their customer service is very helpful. Daystar are made in Missouri, where as Coronado and Lunt are made in Arizona so their C/S is usually available in the day time.
@mountain would you suggest just getting the dedicated scope for solar or just getting a wedge, i have an 80mm Williams Optics - would like to shoot H-Alpha and Calcium.
@@DominusObiscum H-alpha needs a dedicated scope, but the CaK isn't visual unless you have an artificial lens from cataract surgery like I do. I can see the Sun just fine, but a human lens doesn't see CaK very well. I don't recommend anything smaller than 50mm, those 40mm cannot go over 50x without some distortion and having looked through one I decided I didn't like it.
Lunt sells a 60mm scope convertible that can be made into a night scope. When you look at the price of a CaK blocking diagonal you might just as well buy a dedicated 60mm Lunt for not much more.
@@MountainFisher Thank you very much was going to be using it mostly for photography and not worried about visuals, appreciate the help.
@@DominusObiscum It has been almost a year and I was wondering how you're coming along on your Solar photography plan? Did you get the CaK diagonal and put it on your 80mm W.O. telescope or buy a dedicated H-Alpha Solar scope? And whichever one you did how has it progressed? I ask because like many things worth doing it has a learning curve depending on the astrophoto experience you've already have learned of course.
Do you find AZEQ5 more wobbly than EQ6? I understand you are on a wooden floor, but you should have a good idea from the moments no one is walking around. I am looking for an upgrade for my ZEQ25 and AZEQ5 is in my short list. Thanks.
It is indeed definitely wobblier than the EQ6 and more sensitive to wind - which is to be expected with its light weight! Almost not noticeable with a refractor, but it becomes visible when focusing with my C9.25 for instance. If you're looking for an astrophotography mount you won't be lugging around too much, the EQ6 is what I'd recommend (or CEM60 - or CEM40). While the AZEQ5 will carry more than the ZEQ25, more confidently, it's a relatively small upgrade. But if portability and versatility is paramount it's difficult to beat!
Did I hear you say you can just get a special filter for my existing telescope?
Just recently bought a Chromosphere Quark and when I have used it I love it. I used it on the Skywatcher Evostar 72mm. But now I have bought an Astrotech 115mm EDT refractor. I plan to use the Quark on that scope but it's been very hot in the US lately and fires from the west coast have made the sun red a thousand miles away where I live. I haven't bothered. I wish I had known that sharpcap trick for focusing the sun. I recently saw it on Woodland Hills video on solar. It was hard to really know if I was actually in focus on videos I have caught. I was actually using NINA to run the focus motor and imaging in SharpCap. I didn't use autofocus in NINA though, because I don't know how for sun or planets. Did you image the prom on the other side of the sun? It looked like a "?" mark. That would have been interesting. Seeing in my area seems to be horrid all the time, even at night.
Oh man it's going to be amazing with your Astrotech 115mm!! You have something to look forward to for when the smoke clears! You should try the contrast detection autofocus in NINA, see how well it works for you! I ended up not imaging that second prominence - too bad I didnt...
@@CuivTheLazyGeek your surface picture was amazing there at the end of the video. Hopefully I can do that with the bigger scope.
What plate do you use to connect your Coronado to the Skywatcher mount?
It's a plate I had lying around from Kenko, it shipped with a cheap 200mm F4 lens I used to use as a guidescope
Question Cuiv, so if I got a Quark Chromosphere unit and use it on my Tak FS102 (no additional filters on the front) would get better imaging with ZWO OSC of the Sun than your Coronado 90? You said that your Coronado 90 gives you better results than your Quark? Please give me your suggestion please.
OSC is really not great for solar imaging. You'd get great results with the Chromosphere! My solar scope seems to give better results simply because of the double stack, but it's a subtle difference. You'd still manage something great with the Quark, and I'd recommend starting with that!
I have an Esprit 120 refractor and the Daystar Quark Chromosphere....without an ERF and just using 2 inch Uv IR Cut filter in the back....Would it not cause damage to the Ed glass coatings on the refractor and hence decrease the longevity of my beautiful telescope?
ED is just a glass types and anti-reflective coatings are present on every glass-air surface of recent refractors, so no, observing the sun will not damage the objective (lens) of your refractor. The problem comes with parts close to the focal plane, as the sunlight is very concentrated there, heating them up. The missing ERF might be a problem for the UV/IR blocking filter or the Quark, but not for the telescope itself (as far as you don't hit its other parts with the light from the sun).
I have a 12" dob..to big I know, but also a AT60ED refractor. Is that too small or worth buying the Quark to compliment it?
I think I'd work quite well, but may leave you hungry for more ;)
didn't do much research on the whole solar astronomy.. I was thinking I could one day just throw a solar filter thingie on my newtonian and look at the sun if I ever wanted to do it.. Guess not :P
Well, technically you can, with a white light full aperture filter, which is pretty cheap. But definitely not as exciting as Ha!
You can (I like observing with my 150/1200 mm Newtonian), and with something like a Solar Continuum Filter, you can also increase contrast, but H-alpha needs other equipment.
Curiosity question/challenge: can you get/try Ha images of nighttime emission nebulae with such a narrowband filter?
I don't think that's possible, not with all the energy rejection that's happening! Someone has to have tried that by now :)
It might be possible, as the light of the H-alpha line seems to be fully transmitted - otherwise, the ERF would perhaps be made of RG645 and not RG630.
Hydrogen alpha is hydrogen alpha, it's the same light either way. I'm trying to figure out what the difference between a general "white light" luminance solar filter plus an H-alpha filter for the camera would be vs the single piece H-alpha solar filter. The big difference I'm seeing is $1000, but that can't be the only thing. Does a normal luminance filter block all of the H-alpha maybe?
Your solar Ha filters have fractions of angstroms adjustable bandpass. At best your deep sky astro filter has 3nm fixed bandpass, orders of magnitude wider than is required.
What are you doing in Tokyo? Apart from star gazing. Thanks for nice video.
I'm a standard corporate drone, working in a software company ;) how I ended up in Japan is a long story :)
Cuiv, The Lazy Geek Probably simiral long story how I ended up in Scotland :) But nothing happens by chance :)
👏👏👏👏👏 🌤🌤🌤🌤🌤 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ As always, excelent the video!
Thank you Huan, glad you liked it!
At 22:38 you can see the solar aliens in the bottom left corner!
Yep, I noticed that too! I wonder exactly what it was!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek It seems to flutter, so it might have been a bird.
Do You see the sun red through a telescope?
When using this particular solar filter, the sun appears very red indeed. Different filters can show different colors depending on the light wavelength selected (white light filter would show the sun white or yellow, HA filter red, CaK blue, etc.)
another enthusiast video, much appreciated and very informative....but why is your right pant leg so high? :)
I hadn't even noticed! The mic cable tends to grab on that pant leg...
18:47 to 18:58, I can see nothing... ;) #cuivdroptips
We agree, nothing happened :D
I feel like there were not enough disclaimers and warnings for the Americans 😂
And shrink about 10k dollars your bank account.