Solar Filter Spacing
In hindsight, I should have set up my new mount for this project so I didn't have to constantly spend time tracking the sun manually. Instead, I used a lightweight manual mount that has no slow motion controls because I am still quite sick with either COVID or a bad respiratory cold. Setting up the new mount would have required more energy than I have right now so I opted for a much smaller mount. Unfortunately, this smaller mount made this project a bit more tedious than it needs to be. I was constantly nudging the telescope to keep it in my field of view as the sun slowly moved across the sky. If I used my larger new mount, the mount would have tracked the sun automatically.
In the end, it looks like I figured out the correct spacing of all the pieces and parts necessary for imaging the full disk of the sun in Ha.
The above image is just a single image. I didn't bother stacking many images to combine into one more detailed image. My primary concern was getting the spacing correct so I could capture the full disk of the sun so I am posting just a single image that has little to no post-processing.
At first, I decided that I would not bother connecting my Quark solar filter to a power source. The power allows the filter to see as much detail as possible but even without power I am still able to see and focus on the sun. I wasn't concerned about detail though because spacing was my priority. I ended up bringing my power supply outside with me anyway so I did connect the Quark filter to a battery.
It wasn't long before I noticed that the power LED light on my Quark filter was not illuminated. I had already noticed that the sun was lacking detail (as seen in the above photo). Since the power LED was not illuminated, either my expensive Quark filter was burned out or I had no power coming out of my portable power source. I then brought the whole imaging train assembly into the house to apply power from a wall outlet. The Quark's LED power light illuminated as it should. So, my portable battery was dead.
Since my battery was dead, I couldn't possibly see any details on the sun. Well... not the details I should have been seeing anyway. I saw no prominences nor spicules which I noticed right away since these are very obvious features. I did, however, see a lone sunspot and even two filaments but, considering what this filter should be showing me, my test image (above) is devoid of any detail. However, I was able to figure out the correct spacing to capture images of the full disk in Ha.
I laid out the pieces and parts so I could photograph this assembly for future reference. Here is the spacing...
Now, we'll see if I can get this to work again the next time I head out to capture some full disk solar images in hydrogen alpha!
EDIT: 12 June 2023 - A few months after writing this blog entry, I decided to upgrade to a much better solar camera. This QHY5III 178 Mono camera was frustrating to use. It was slow, the resolution wasn't so great and the sensor often produced a grid pattern across the entire frame. It was time to upgrade to something better.
I chose a new Player One Apollo M-Max camera. It is a far, far better camera. It is significantly faster... the resolution is outstanding... and it does not produce any grid pattern like the QHY camera produced. This new Player One camera even has a larger sensor.
There is a downside to changing the sensor size after figuring out my spacing. So I need to adapt what I did here in this blog entry to this new camera and its larger sensor. Theoretically, I shouldn't need as much spacing between the camera and the 0.5x focal reducer now.
In the configuration shown in this blog entry, I had approximately 62mm of spacing between the camera and the focal reducer. I decided that I will try a spacing of 48mm for the new Player One Apollo M-Max camera. This should be a good starting point.
I'll need to get out there again to do some trial and error testing to get the spacing just right.
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