Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2014 20:00:41 GMT
Hey all,
I thought a "set up" report might help someone someday, so here it is. And, I'm sure open to critiques, comments and advice.
My equipment:
Orion ST80 coupled with a Mallincam Hyper Color vidcam, mounted atop my Orion XT8i Dob, mounted atop an Alien EQ platform.
Orion Solar filter: 4.10" ID Orion Full Aperture Solar Filter | Orion Telescopes: Filters
An inexpensive LCD "headrest" monitor: Amazon.com: 7 inch TFT Color LCD Car Rear View Camera Monitor Support Rotating The Screen and 2 AV Inputs: Car Electronics
I eyeballed the CDS (Clear Dark Sky, out of Canada) yesterday morning and it said I would have a few hours of clear sky, mid-day. So, I yarded all my stuff out to the garage after shoveling six inches of snow to get there. Perched the ST80 up on top of the XT8i with the Mallincam. Puttered and fussed about hooking up wires and such and was finally ready to vidcam ol' Sol.
Hmmm, how to get it in the FOV? Can't use the finderscope, right? I tried the shadow method, yunno, when the shadow's minimum you should be on it. No joy...
Then, I got my 40mm ep out and sure enough, got Sol in the FOV, popped in the Mallincam. Yes, an image in the monitor! Then I started working on focus. It was ugly! Way far too much chromatic aberration. It looked like a purple flattened fuzz ball. Arrggghhhh!
So, I took a break, then went back to it. I had the fuzz ball on the screen, and got to looking at the little buttons on the bottom of it. BTW, you don't get instructions with this monitor. So, I clicked on "Menu". There was "Brightness", "Contrast", "Color", "Hue" and something about a ratio.
Well, turned out here was the solution to my problems. I turned...I think it was "Color" to zero and all the CA disappeared. Clicked on the ratio thingy and it went from whatever it had been to 4:3. Shazammm! I had a sphere instead of an oblate spheroid, and...wait for it...yes, Sunspots!
So, I began to fuss with tracking. I have a 12mm reticle ep so I lined up the cross hairs so the Sun moved along one of the hairs. Tried moving the EQ plat to cancel out the drift, but nothing I did helped. Finally, I realized I had the original 9 volt battery in the plat and it wasn't tracking at all. And, the clouds rolled in...
I learned:
*You don't need a finderscope or even an eyepiece to get on the Sun. The image is visable looking into the diagonal to center it,. Then, you just pop the cam in the diagonal and you're on it.
*Fresh batteries are your friend.
*You don't need to fiddle with cam controls with the Sun. It's bright enough to just put it in the diagonal and you're cookin'.
*Solar is a great way to work out tracking, focusing and focal reducer details.
*This little $35 monitor is a great tool, once you figger' it out...
The CDC promises a few clear windows for Solar today. I'll have a go and report progress...
Clear Skies!
Bob