Sol'Ex Lecture @ Astronomy club Altair

My Sol'Ex project and Journey since 2023 was subject of my lecture @ Astronomy Club Altair in Sint-Truiden. About 14 people attended the lecture which took about 1h. Many questions were asked and could be answered.

After the lecture we could talk futher at the bar and a thank you gift was handed over by chairman of Altair, Steven Lambrechts. Looking back on a succesfull evening!

Click on image to see the lecture

Selfie with colleagues Jean-Marie and Walter

Chairman of Altair Steven Lambrechts 

Sun Sol'Ex March 16

A blue sky until noon time; but windy and seeing was poor. I again used my newest set up with TLAPOP80/480 and Herschel wedge. This together with my Sol'Ex Pro and 2nd Gen slit and ASI678MM camera.

According Spaceweather.com sunspots are increased in the northern hemisphere of the Sun; which is currently the case as seen in my CaIIHh1v image below. 

Sun in H-alpha, H-beta and Fe(c) with Sol'Ex

Imaging the Sun on March 8 in H-alpha, H-beta and Fe (c) line.
Setting :

Sol'Ex pro with 2nd Gen slit, TLAPO 60/360 and ASI678MM. In stead of herschel wedge I used again Hoya ND16 filter.

Sioftware : SharpCap 4, Inti, CS4.

Gif Solar H-alpha March 8

 

Images made with Sol'Ex and TLAPO60/360 and ASI678MM. Amazing how the solar disk is changing over a period of 75minutes. 

Sun in H-alpha, Beta, Gamma en CaIIH line using 2nd Gen slit and TLAPO80/480

Images of the Sun from March 9th with Solex Pro and 2nd Gen slit. As a scope I used TLAPO80/480 with Herschel wedge and ASI678MM camera.

Software : Sharpcap, Inti and CS4

Images: H-alpha, H-beta, H-gamma and CaIIH

Solex and first light with TLAPO80/480 - Best ever CaIIH line

This morning I changed from my TLAPO60/360 to my TLAPO80/480. I tried this before but I couldn't get the spectral lines in focus. After adjusting the connection between the Herschel Wedge and Sol'Ex the problem was solved. According the theory the combination of a 80mm f/6, 2nd Gen Slit of 6mm height and ASI678MM the solardisk would be fully visible. And yes, this was the case. According the same theory the use of a bigger scope should increase details, mainly in CaII lines. And also this was the case. 

Above CaIIH image is my best ever image Calcium image with a lot of details.

Setting: Sol'Ex Pro with 2nd Gen Slit, TLAPO80/480 f/6 and ASI678MM

Herschel Wedge

Software : SharpCap, Inti and CS4

Tilt 1,8° and Sx/SY 6,1; the latter one is cause by the huge ROI for this CaIIH line. 

Startrail with Star Adventurer 2i

Update Star Adventurer 2i:

After my colleague, Walter, fixed my issue on the bad "snap" connection, I was able to take again some images of the nightsky. 

First I completed the polarallignment; next I opened my app "SA Console" and connected with the mount. I selected Astro-Time Lapse and took 200 images of constellation Orion.

Postprocessing was done with Startrails and CS4.

When looking in detail, the mount is not always very accurate. But I found out I did nog fixed the altitude bold; not sure if this was the cause.

Setting

Nikon D7500 10mm f/4 ISO100 200x30s

Mount Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i

Startrails and CS4