Posts Made By: Paul Hyndman

Robert,

If you want to do it up big-time, you may want to contact Coronado. I believe that as recently as last year's Mercury transit they had lease/rental programs for various pieces of their equipment through European dealers.

A few TeleVue "NEAF eyepiece" factoids.

1) Bring cash, money, lettuce, dinero... as it is the ONLY thing that is accepted! No checks, credit cards or IOUs!!!

I didn't notice an ATM at the facility, so you'll have to leave the venue if you need to get cash. Avoid the extra trip into town, avoid waiting in line and NOT being able to make the purchase, avoid being disappointed when the item has sold out by bringing the money with you. Capisce?

2) While arguably cosmetic blems allow the lower pricing, other than the "punch mark" on the TeleVue logo (denoting it as a NEAF eyepiece), most will be hard-pressed to find any fault in these oculars. If you like the normal TV line, you will LOVE the bargain-priced available here!

3) Quantities vary and are limited in number, with sales on a FIRST come FIRST served basis. All items ares sold AS IS... no returns!

4) Sales Policy

Until Saturday at 3PM: Up to a total of 5 eyepieces, with 2 eyepieces per focal length for 2" EPs (no limits on Powermates or Barlows)

Saturday after 3PM thru Sunday: The quanitity limit will be lifted for those purchasing EPs for friends who could not attend.

5) NO DEALER PURCHASES!!!

6) Refer to number 1... BRING CASH!!!

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---

WOW!!!

Paul

You've given new meaning to the term "Full Disk", Dodi... that puppy is awesome!!!

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---

Great shots all... and my condolences to those who were socked in!

(Marconi Station Cape Cod)



Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---

The 18.5VDC Kendick's supply will certainly work. Another method, while less efficient, works well for me... an inverter plugged in to one of my 12VDC sources (more commonly known as a BAB: a Big-Arse Battery!)

I picked up a nifty AC/Delco unit for $25 from BJ's:



It's rated at 400 watt continuous/ 1200 watt surge current, and can be used with any 12VDC source. This can be a deep-cycle lead-acid battery or something like the 65AH Gel-cells I threw into cheapie marine battery boxes (and added a few geegaws: fuses, master power switch, outlets, voltage monitor, etc) as seen here:



A blurb about their construction and parts:

http://www.astro-nut.com/gel-cell.html

You can find more efficient or less hefty solutions to be sure, but I can almost guarantee that you'll find a use for the additional power of a "BAB" with inverter... maybe not this month, but as your needs expand you will come to appreciate the additional capacity.

Paul

Congratulations on your new instrument Rick!

I had the opportunity to view through a fellow club member's Maxscope 40 this past weekend and was blown away by the performance... well-defined plage girded two of the Active Regions present, two large filaments had terrific contrast (the T-max tuner really helps here), proms looked strong, and surface features were readily discernable.

I'm used to my SM90/BF30 setup, but gotta' tell you I was really impressed with the Maxscope 40. You're gonna' love it!

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/sun.html ---

Here ya' go, the can-do astro camera of choice; kit with an EF-S 18-55mm Canon lens included
for less than your $1000 requirement:

Our Price: $999.00


Available here or from Astromart sponsors:

http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=6312&m=45


Since its release, this DSLR has been creating the most buzz in astro-imaging forums.
I'd humbly suggest this camera over any other in your price range, as its sensitivity,
low noise extended exposures, and astro-friendly nature have been borne out in the major
digital astro-imaging egroups. It's far more versatile than a non-removeable
lens digicam, and has consistently held its own alongside more pricey setups (no I don't own
one!)


Here's a shot from its cousin though, a Canon 10D, with which the same chip and other features are
shared (4" AP Traveler, Canon 10D):

image info http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html :




(aberrations on brighter stars were the result of the bright end of a 2" coupler that was used,
which has since been corrected)



And here's a normal daytime shot from the same camera, using a Canon lens (hmmm... unfortunately
there must of been a piece of dust on the lens that speckled this June 8th image of the sun! 8O ):




Cheers,

Paul


--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---

Baader has a UV-IR-Cut filter that threads into most 1 1/4" ToUcam adapters and, with 98% average tranmissivity between the cutoffs, can be left permanently in place:

http://www.alpineastro.com/filters/filters.htm#UV-IR-Cut%20Filter

As a side benefit it seals the sensor from dust, and that alone is worth the forty bucks this filter costs!

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---

"True color" for solar H-a is sometimes mis-understood.

H-a is a monochromatic signal at 656nm which is in the visible Red part of the spectrum.
The RAW images should be nothing but varying intensities of RED. Any hints of orange,
yellow, pink etc. indicates some other color has contaminated the RED signal (this can
be the result of signal leakage between adjacent pixels, and/or over-exposure).

Many consumer grade digicams use micro-lens filters, allocating a percentage of pixels
for Red, Green, or Blue. A typical arrangement (Bayer Masking) allocates 25% of
those to the Red channel... ergo: 3/4's of the H-a signal falls upon "dead" pixels.
This does not mean that those cameras cannot be used to capture good H-a images,
but that a dedicated monochromatic camera can do a much better job (where 100% of
the pixels can gather signal).

Whatever camera you ultimately decide upon, you should be aware of another nuance
of solar H-a: it is a narrow-band signal (extreme narrow-band!). With a bandwidth
of less than an Angstrom, this can create optical havoc unseen in "normal" wide-band
images. Most notably is a phenomenon called "Newton's Rings":



This is an interference pattern that may be present on any imaging device using a
windowed array (glass covered CCD) or other parallel optical surfaces. Two cameras
can come off the same assembly line one after the other... one with the problem and one
without it (no mfg's currently check for narrow-band performance, not even SBIG)
The only way to be certain the camera will not have this shortcoming is by trying
it before buying it.

(Phew) If you're still with me, consumer grade digicams can produce good solar
H-a images. My own penchant had been towards DSLRs, specifically Canon EOS (I have used
A Nikon CP995, Canon D60 and 10D, and now an SBIG STL11k)... but do try before you buy!

Paul

PS: Here's what a RAW image looks like, vs the extracted RED channel processed in grayscale
and then recombined and colorized (these are all from the same initial image). Note that the
RAW appears dark, as it is an RGB image which as mentioned previously, uses only 25% of the
signal):


RAW


PROCESSED GRAYSCALE


COLORIZED


Aw heck, one more image while we're at it... and yes, I'm a sucker for false color!

(Info for this image can be found at http://www.astro-nut.com/sun-ha-04apr16.html )


--- http://www.astro-nut.com ---