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First light report : Solar wedge & Mk V bino


Bino-viewer

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Evening all. 


Quick first light report using the new Baader Herschel solar wedge with my Baader Mark 5 wide field binoviewer.


(For ease of typing i'll refer to them as the Wedge and the Mk V)


 


I recently posted on the forum about how i'd converted the wedge (using the #27 adapter) to accept a binoviewer,


by passing the 2" eyepiece holder. This is required to have any chance of reaching focus, and indeed gives me back around 45mm of travel.


The Mk V has the ability to take a 1.25x or 1.7x Gpc (glass path compensator) which screws directly into the Mk V.


The Gpcs act like a Barlow, extending the light path as well as correcting for things like Spherocromatism which is inherent in all prism binoviewers.


The Baader Maxbright OTOH, cannot do this...theres no option to insert the GPC in the bino itself. You have to use a dedicated diagonal to attach


a Gpc with the Maxbright, and obviously when using a wedge this is a no no.


 


Anyway, i hoped i'd have at least a fighting chance of reaching focus with the 1.25 / 1.7 Gpcs.....


Heres my set up from the ground upwards : Uni 18 & DM6. WO FLT132, Herschel Wedge, Mk V, 24mm Pans.


 


16752400326_fdf2146651_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on Flickr16155944514_352ca7868b_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on 16155950544_0ddfc683d0_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on Flickr


 


First of all....can i reach focus ?


I set up first of all to assess things with NO Gpc in the Mk V and started to rack the focuser in.....and in...


And much to my amazement....I REACHED FOCUS ! No GPC  :D


But only 2mm left of infocus on the focuser. Close call.


These next images show my infocus distances with no Gpc, then with the 1.25 & 1.7x  (2mm, 20mm and 35mm)


 


16777119631_b8b1fa4718_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on 16155949414_1535f4b6af_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on 16777173932_b26dd16ab0_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on Flickr


 


Using my 3 sets of eyepiece pairs (24, 19, 13mm with the 2 Gpcs) gives me 9 different magnification possibilities.


So how were the views ? Well i set up a bit late really. I was observing between 12:00 and 13:00hrs and the sun had warmed things up and there was a lot of heat haze around. (nice sunny day here in Derby today !)


Non the less i had some great views trying out all my various combinations. Probably my best view was using the 1.25x Gps and changing between 


the 24 and 19 Pans giving 48 & 61x magnification.


I love my Panoptics : they are my favourite eyepieces. I had a lovely immersive 3D like view of the sun. The solar disk was big : but not filling the fov.


When seeing allowed i had some great views of a sunspot group approx 3/4 of the way across the solar disc. It was the first time i had been able 


to see the Umbra / Penumbra regions of a sunspot. Neat  :)


In the wedge itself there is a ND 3.0 filter which must never be removed.


On top of that you can use a Solar Continuum filter which gives a green sun, but with extra contrast.


For a novice observer, this takes a bit of getting used to. Another option is to remove the Continuum, and add an extra ND to dim the sun a bit more.


My wedge came with 3 extra ND filters to do just this (0.6, 0.9, 2.0 ND) Plenty of options.


I actually preferred the view WITHOUT the continuum. I added the 0.9ND and this gave a white light view which seemed a bit sharper to me.


But they were both impressive. I even called out my other half to take a look.......


 


Often when i'm set up outside with a scope i'll ask her to check things out. Her eyesight is not the best, but i'm always interested in her opinion.


The scope was set up with the 1.25x Gpc and 19Pans (61x mag) and Solar Continuum filter in place.


Her words...... "I can see a big green blob with some muck on it " !


"Muck....??? This is a sunspot group.....!!"  Sometimes women just don't get it  :facepalm: Haha....


 


With an hours worth of observing i was concerned about heat build up in the wedge, especially with me using a biggish refractor.


I needn't have worried ; the wedge felt a bit warm, nothing more.


This is proof of what a great bit of engineering the wedge is. 


The focal point from a scope when observing the sun can reach 600*C but i felt totally at ease with it.


The bottom of the wedge has a vented ceramic tile and also cleverly acts as a finder.


Heres a few of images to finish with : all taken with the iPhone afocally (nothing special)


I'll post some more when i get my new camera set up to go on the scope.


 


16752397956_17ee187f6e_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on Flickr16592116709_99cac28812_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on 16590676348_83ca5b820e_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on 16778265095_3dac15a351_n.jpgBaader Herschel wedge by rob.0919, on Flickr


 


An enjoyable first light then with the wedge and Mk V


I'm crossing my fingers for next weeks eclipse. If we get weather like today....... :unsure:


But its bound to be cloudy.....


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Sounds like an excellent piece of kit and a wonderful review. Have to say I am not sure about the green filter either. Thanks for sharing.

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If not really clued up with filters, but isn't the human eye most sensitive to the green bit of the spectrum ?


I've read the Continuum enhances contrast when looking at sunspot detail etc.


 


My dodgy iPhone afocal shots don't really do much justice to what i saw at the eyepiece.


I've just received a 2" prime focus adapter thingy for my camera.


Hopefully much better images to come.....both white and green !


 


Wouldn't it be cool though if Uranus looked like this through the scope....?  :lol:


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Good review Rob. The Lunt wedge was my best purchase of last year, brought loads of detail and contrast out over the film I had been using. I use my planetary filters with the wedge some of them bring more detail out, well worth a try


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