Hi all,

Well, last night was a bust, so I decided to try my hand at solar imaging.
That was a bust too..... I need a darker solar filter! Too bad, I was
looking forward to being able to bring out very subtle detail by post
processing.

But I ended up putting my little Sony B/W CCD camera at the prime focus and
got some really nice live video.

There are at least three large spots (two near the limb) and many smaller
ones which are easy to overlook at the eyepiece but stand out well in the
video. And the granulation and subtle brighter areas are very visible too.

And then I noticed something.....

I had done a no star alignment on my LX200 (point south and level on
startup) and the tracking was real good, but not perfect. So I tried
"drift aligning" my alt-az mount, and it worked great!

All you have to do is make sure the mount is level (my level in the base is
pretty good). Then do a no-star alignment and slew to something (the sun
in my case). Then as the image drifts, re-center using the mechanical
controls. I loosened the RA clutch a bit and used the slow motion knob.
For DEC adjustments, I loosened the DEC clutch and moved the tube by hand.
After a while, I was close to perfect. Same principal as polar, I guess.
I just never thought of it. It is real easy with video, since the screen
forms a reticle of sorts..... align a sunspot with a speck of dust on the
screen, and you can see very small movements. But just as easy with a
reticle eyepiece (although I don't have one).

Live video has its merits, too..... you can play with the contrast and
brightness like a still CCD image, just not as much. I could see way more
subtle detail in the video as I could at the eyepiece.

Back to observing!


Paul Goelz
Rochester Hills, MI

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