My 3D printed solar filter is complete. Designed in Fusion 360 and printed in PLA on a Flashforge Adventurer 4 I decided to make it in two parts, so the Baader film is clamped between the inner L ring and the outer frame that slides over the dew shield on the scope. Rather than just relying on the clamping effect of the two halves to hold the baader film, I also applied a thin…
Solar Observing Equipment Update
I’ve had a bit of an upgrade on the Solar scope front. Despite the 150mm aperture the 80mm glass solar filter was stopping the scope to the point, where any magnification above 50X turned the view to a blurry mush. With my current selection eyepieces, I was only able to use some pretty horrible – and very old- Meade 4000 series Plossls in the 26mm to 40mm range. The most obvious way to see…
A bit more Solar
The only good thing to come out of this continuous bout of hot weather and a declared drought is that apparently it has been clear every night for over a week now. While that is fine for my fellow deep sky imager friends, it hasn’t been of any use to me as my own observatory has been decommissioned pending a possible rebuild next year. The only astronomy I’m doing at the moment is variable…
A bit of Solar
With all the really nice weather we have been having lately, this was a good opportunity to get out with the scope and do a little solar observing and drawing. Rather than just concentrate on one single highly detailed drawing, I wanted to try doing a simple sketch every day, for as many days as the weather would allow. I did try this a few years back and quite enjoyed the experience, so if…
Imaging Session: Pelican Nebula IC5070
Session Data Date: 23/06/2020 Time: 23:01 – 23:44 UT Seeing: II Mostly Stable, Transparency: Clear, Temp: 13.9C, Air Pressure: 1021mb, Humidity: 92%, Dew Point: 12.4C, Wind Speed: 2mph Scope: TMB 80mm APO Refractor at f/4.8 Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, Filter: Ha 35nm, Processing: Dark subtracted and Flat fielded in Pixinsight. NGC7000 ( North American nebula) and IC7070 ( Pelican nebula) – both of which are named for blindingly obvious reasons are both…
Imaging Session: 14, May
Session Data Date: 14/5/2020 Time: 20:37 – 02:05 UT Seeing: Unknown Transparency: Unknown Temp: 7 C, Air Pressure: 1023mb Humidity: 82% Dew Point: 4C Wind Speed: 10mph Average Seeing: Average SQM: Scope: TMB 80 f/4.8 Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro, No Filter. Darks and Flats applied. Image rotation 268 degrees A two for the price of one observation in that we get NGC4214 in the FOV as well. This is one of those forgotten…