Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

First post in this group, hi everyone.

Shot with my Canon 7D through a Celestron 8 PEC SCT telescope.
Homemade Baader solar film filter.
F/10 native for the scope
1/1000 at 200 ISO
2X Barlow
No color added as shot.

Sunspots Feb 23 2014

Chris F. Loc: San Francisco

Welcome to UHH. Your shot is very nice and unusual for what we normally see here.

Chris

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

You would think there would be more photos of our closest star.
Thanks for the welcome and the compliment.
Albuquerque was in the sweet spot for the Eclipse in 2012.
I might as well post that one also.
:D

2012 Solar Eclipse in Albuquerque NM

Chris F. Loc: San Francisco

Wow, very nice shot as well. I'm also surprised that there are not more comments. UHH is funny like that sometimes.

Chris

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

Great shots, thanks,
Marion

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

I have a couple of questions as I have been thinking of getting a solar filter. Is there a benefit of using the film over a glass filter, I would imagine a dedicated solar telescope being the best, i'm just unsure if I have the time for solar viewing.

Does the PEC in your PEC stand for "periodic error corrected" just curious as that is the only use I have seen it.

BTW great shots of spots

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Always glad to answer back.
I mount my film on a matte board carrier even the filters I make for my Canon lenses and mount them into old filter rings. Its like shooting through extra glass and the images are not as crisp. I even tried sandwiching between relatively good UV filter glass. Bah.. back to the open film.

Yes PEC is Periodic Error Correction.
You view and adjust for any drift over a 4 minute period and the scope will remember the changes you make to correct them for the remainder of your session.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

If you don't mind me asking what type of mount are you using and how well can you track with and without PEC enabled. I inherited an aging lx200(preGPS), but only learned about PEC when I purchased an Advanced vx mount for my trial into the photography side of lifelong pastime. I have heard both for and against using it. I haven't tried it yet, still learning the new mount.

I never thought of imaging till I moved to an exceptionally dark site for work. Odd not having to pack anything up to do real viewing 50 miles from home.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

I have not used the PEC feature at all. If I get it close I have no issue shooting 1 or 2 minute shots which will usually stack well.

Stacked from Celestron C8

(Download)

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

What software do you tend to use, I was using Deepskystacker, but was always getting upset with the limited memory considering it is x86 or 32bit it only uses a fraction of the RAM I have available. I recently started using CCDStack and find it to have much longer legs with the downside of it not being freeware though.

Your mount is an Alt/Azm then? I am shocked you can track for 120sec without a guider. Personally I have always been a Meade fanboy, but with the AVX and seeing what others are accomplishing with their Celestrons, I think Meade is giving up the entry/beginner market to Celestron. JMHO

Thanks,
Matthew

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

The Celestron C8 PEC is old.
My was made somewhere between 1990 and 1995.
glass is really good and the tracking pretty accurate.
The newer telescopes cut too many corners.
I use Registax 6 since it was free..
I think Deepsky also gave me insufficient memory errors.
I have 8 GB so I don't think so.

;)

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Yeah DSS can only use 4gig tops as with all 32bit/x86 programs, there are some 32bit chipsets that will allow more than 4gig of physical ram usage but they are rare and I could be mistaken designed for workstations now obsolete.

I have registax but never thought to try it for stacking stills. Ill have to compare and see. I know that CCDStack is also a 32bit program but it allows you to cache parts of its operation and has yet to freeze or give me the dreaded out of memory error.

My old LX200 is also old, and sadly does not track well at all. I can't even squeeze 30sec out of her without elongating the stars. Which is sad because the optics are phenomenal. The C8 has had a great reputation for as long as I can remeber, was even thinking of buying one for my new mount but came across a AT6RC Ritchey-Chrétien for under 200 and could not pass it up. Only shot the moon with it so far and supposedly it is very weak on the contrast for interplanetary objects. I ran into some issues last night of misplaced equipment but should have a real go at a few DSOs tonight if the weather holds.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

My Celestron has the big (Seems like 200 lbs when you have to move it around..) cast wedge specifically for Astrophotography. The newer wedges that I have seen just don't seem very robust and I have not been impressed with the build of the go to mounts either.
Just my 2 cents..