A nice active sun today. Prominences on the small side, not as big as some I've seen over the course of this past winter, but numerous. Nice surface detail. I didn't see any evidence of flares, which should show-up as a sudden brightening near or between a close sunspot pair ("active region"). I didn't look in white light today and kind of wish I did, at the same time as the H-a view. The two views complement each other. The bad news is that I can't reach focus with the binoviewer on the PST, even with the included 2X Barlow relay lens installed. I also tried a 3X Barlow, fortunately the lens cell was removeable from the Barlow and threaded right onto the binoviewer, but it still wouldn't quite reach focus. If I can find a 4X or 5X negative lens that fits in the cell, I may try that. I may also try stacking the 2X and 3X tomorrow if time permits, but the high amplification required means very long FL eyepieces must be used so the final magnification isn't so high that I can't get an all-disk view. Right now, the paired eyepieces I have are 40mm, 28mm, 26mm, & 20mm. I may have to build a pair of 60mm if I end up with 4X or 5X amplification. I have also never tried the binoviewer in white light on the sun, so I may use it soon on my C5 or C6, both of which should reach focus just fine. I've got a glass filter for the C5 but the C6 uses Baader material. Final note: Very long FL eyepieces are kind of a pain to use in daylight. Using them in conjunction with a Barlow exascerbates the problem, as the eye relief is increased. Too much stray light when your eye isn't up against the eyeguard decreases acuity and is a distraction. I may need to rig up a kind of "mask" for the binoviewer in daylight, to eliminate this problem. Stay tuned.
participants (1)
-
Chuck Hards