Permanent Outdoor Concrete Pier Observatory in Florida Project

I picked up a used PST for general outreach, quick grab & go visual without needing to power my Quark, and general small scale stuff to take a quick image with the ASI174MM and get a full disc in the FOV.

It's probably why I've had clouds for weeks upon weeks. That is literally first light, lol. I had no idea how to even work the thing. Limited time. It's already clouded up again.

Very best,

Wonder how it would work with the up coming eclipse ?

Celestron wrote in post #18374862
Wonder how it would work with the up coming eclipse ?

Before & after totality it'll be fine for observing the Sun (visually). During totality you wouldn't use it (it blocks out too much light to see the solar corona).

BTW, these are tricky for astrophotography. You can't use a normal DSLR at prime focus because the sensor is too far back from the focus point and the PST doesn't allow enough focus adjustment to create a focused image. You'd either have to use an afocal "projection" eyepiece or you'd have to use a web-cam type eyepiece (so the focus plane of the camera is in the same position as the eyepiece). These cameras typically have very tiny sensors... possibly too small for seeing much of the Sun. I see Martin posted images of his PST with his ASI camera (although the images in that same post indicate they were shot with an EOS M ... not the ASI camera). I'd be curious to know if he is able to capture the full disk with the ASI camera.

I won't be imaging during totality. Thing is, a partial eclipse is no different than the day to day in HA, or any wavelength, it will just have a big black space across it. It's actually not that interesting to me, I'd rather see the cool stuff behind it. Totality is the only thing interesting to me about a total eclipse because you'll see something you cannot see otherwise from the terrestrial Earth, the corona. For that, no scope needed, no filters, just a simple camera can do it with virtually any lens. I won't be photographing totality, I'm not going to travel for it with my toddler just yet and gamble a bad weather day on top of it.

The images are all done with the ASI174MM, as the images of the setup show. This forum has no way to put appropriate camera names, types, etc, nor telescopes, etc. So I have to use donor ones in their place to be able to put them in the gallery.

The full disc is with the ASI174MM without any mosaic. I have plenty of room to spare too. The ASI low profile nose is only $28 and gives it plenty of in-focus distance to work with the PST (it was made for it).

Very best,

Heya,

A little window of clear sky this morning between storms. Storm rolled in 2 hours later. Managed to get some data on the latest prom groups & sunspots in two wavelengths (656.28nm & 540nm).

High Res Setup:

Celestron Omni XLT 120
Baadar UV/IR Cutter (ERF)
* Quark Chromosphere (656.28nm)
* Baadar Solar Film + Baadar Contiuum (540nm)
ASI174MM

Full Disc Setup:

Coronado PST
ASI174MM + ASI Low Profile Nose

+++++++++++++++

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Continued:

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Heya,

Some solar this morning from the pier (was still raining a little, hence the rainbow):

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Continued from above:

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Heya,

Finally got a break this morning in the weather for about 2 hours. Then it clouded up. But I still was able to image quickly. Yesterday I looked at the sun with my PST through some sucker holes in the clouds late in the evening but I couldn't image. I had hoped the prominence group would persist through the day to the next to be able to attempt to capture it. It did. It's still huge and lovely. I was able to capture it in high resolution with decent seeing at two angles. I imaged it maybe with 10~15 minutes between changes and noticed it changed in even that small time frame despite being so huge. Would be a great target for an animation! But the weather didn't cooperate for that.

Imaged in 540nm (white light), 393nm (calcium) and 656.28nm (hydrogen alpha) for comparison of the photosphere and chromosphere.

Equipment:

Celestron Omni XLT 120mm Refractor (modular setup)
Baadar Solar Film Filter + Baadar Solar Continuum Filter (540nm) | 3x ED Barlow for high resolution | 0.5x Focal reducer for full disc FOV
Skybender + 393nm filters stacked (393nm) | 3x ED Barlow for high resolution | 0.5x Focal reducer for full disc FOV
Quark Chromosphere (656.28nm)

Coronado PST
Low profile nose to achieve focus

ASI174MM

Prominences were 101 frame stacks (100 frames is good for signal to noise ratio to bring out detail and drop noise significantly)
Full discs were 101 frame stacks (same purpose, noise)
Detail shots were 31 frame stacks with flat calibration
All videos were captured in increments of 500 frame bursts.
Processed with AS!2 -> IMPPG -> R6 -> CS5.1

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Everything is back up and running post hurricane Irma. I sadly took the mount inside for the storm. I waited until hurricane Maria was definitely not coming my way. We were hit directly by Irma, though she was considerably weakened and so we didn't suffer any damage or loss around here.

Great sunset tonight. Going to take a look at Saturn before bed.

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No worries about a breeze or hurricane messing with your shot.

What a nice setup. Being a women and having a telescope that weighs more than 55 lbs, I have missed some good viewing nights because I wasn't
up for the challenge of lugging that thing outdoors. I love your pictures, especially Crater Petavius. Have fun and thanks for sharing.