Posts Made By: Gianluca Valentini

Hello guys,

raining here :C

Thank God I took some picture the day before yesterday and, although not great, I had something to work on!

OK: so I had some problems starting with the focus: I forgot to lock the focuser and I believe there has been a little sagging of the FSQ focuser since 2 of the 4 20min subexposures were slightly out of focus (could be a temperature change, but I doubt it, since when I refocused and locked the focuser everything went alright > )
The other major problem I have is that I cannot seem to make good flat fields for the colors :C :C :C :C :C

I tried many different settings for sky flats (average at 20,30,40 and 50% of the saturation level, i.e. full well divided by gain), but the images are awful after reduction (dark+flat). All flats are dark subtracted, but the color image turns out to be super grainy after I apply the flats: I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS > > > >

So here you'll find only the h-alpha portion of the image. Maybe in the future I'll be able to utilize the color data I gathered (even my horsey awaits to be released from its grey existence )

4 20 min subs dark subtracted and processed in AIP4WIN and PS CS2.

Ciao
Luca

PS please can somebody help me with the damned flat fields?

Hello guys,

after a while I was able to get around and do some imaging with the TEC180. Alas, the focal length is not very interesting and the seeing wasn't cooperating so the result isn't exactly a great picture, but it is nonetheless one of my best lunar pictures and the 1st experiment on the moon with my new scope.
However, the scope is fantastic: visually it is a thrill to experience As regards imaging, I hope I'll be able to get some decent seeing to see what this baby can do.

TEC 180 FL at approx F28 (circa 4500mm. Using the FFC Baader it is a little difficult to assess the focal length).
Lumenera 2-1 with red filter
100 stacked of 500 collected

Ciao
Luca

Hello guys,

the sun woke up and so did I

Alas when this active region was showing off, here we had rain and clouds so I have to be content with the "tail" of the activity

Data are on the picture.

Ciao all

Luca

Hello guys,

here is another image in white light of the 10960 captured on June 10th.

The focal length is approx. 5000mm, F28 with the TEC180.

UTC is 09:29.

Ciao
Luca

Hello guys,

although the seeing was not even average, I tried to image the new sunspot. Now NOAA gave it the 961 number, but someone is saying that it might be the 960 going for another round
Whatever it may be, it is closely followed by another active, though smaller, group that this morning seemed to be flaring a little (the Italian mailing list Grupposole, reported a small flare at 10 UTC: needless to say I had turned off the scope a few minutes before :C ). I have some h-alpha videos that I will process later to show the 2 areas in one shot.

However, this is an image taken with the TEC180/Herschel prism combo at a focal length of approx 5000mm.

Ciao all

Luca

Hello guys,

despite the overall bad seeing, it seems like I was granted some luck

This image is better than I thought and I hope you guys enjoy it too.

Ciao
Luca
PS image is reduced to 80% and data are, as usual, on the image.

Hello everyone,

this is my latest image of the 963 yesterday. It is a white light image, taken at approx 3200mm focal with the TEC 180 and Baader wedge. The seeing was very bad, but I manually selected the 20 best frames out of the 1000 captured.
Spaceweather liked it I hope you do too

Ciao
Luca

Hello guys,

hera are a couple of images from vedeo I took this morning. The seeing was better than usual

Here are an image in white light and one in h-alpha. The white light image is at 5000mm focal length. The h-alpha 2050mm.

Ciao
Luca

PS Both images have been reduced to 80% of the original size

Hello guys,

here rain is pouring and it doesn't seem it's gonna stop soon :C

So back to old movies! I found a couple of interesting captures from July 14th.
This image is interesting for me because it is the longest focal I ever used on the sun in white light: 6300mm. I used my TEC180 and a 5x Powermate with the Baader wedge.
I reduced the image only a 10%. Considering the long focal, I am quite satisfied with the result. Stack of 47/500 frames.

Ciao
Luca

Hello guys,

eventually I was able to mount my new h-alpha filter on the TEC180
I ordered a custom Solar Spectrum filter in Dec 2006 and I received it about a month ago. As usual, after receiving it either rained or the sun was blank so I could not use it. Today I saw a little opening and decided to put it on, regardless of the seeing conditions.
The technical specs are the following:

Research Grade
46mm clear aperture
0.3A bandpass
C-ERF Baader 180mm
I can use it at 2520mm focal with a 110mm mask to bring the F ratio to 23. At this focal length, given the 46mm aperture I can take the whole disk (provided the CCD chip is large enough).
With the full aperture I have to increase the focal length to 5000mm (approx.) in order to keep the F ratio above 23-25 which the perfect working condition for these filters.

I took this image today (and many others) at 5000mm even if the seeing wasn't very good.

I hope to test it in better conditions soon

Ciao
Luca

PS image is reduced to 80% quality and size to fit the size requirements