This was the first BBQ at the local observatory this year. Yes, it was a little breezy and cold, but nevertheless, we had fun. The day before the new solar telescope had arrived and everyone was eager, to have a longer look through it. No, we not disappointed.

I had my two kids with me and - of course - my old compagnon, the Stellarvue Nighthawk refractor. I made a few images through it of different quality. The best one I present down here. So we had a good time with good food and lots of talking.


2014-03-08 15:28UT NightHawk ISO100 1/1600s : Today's sun in white ... Whatch out how many tiny sunspots are there. I count more than 20.


2014-03-08 College Reinhard taking a look through the new solar telescope (LUNT 80mm)


2014-03-08 My StellarVue Nighthawk still in action

Equipment

Optics           : StellarVue Nighthawk Achromat Refractor d=80mm f=480mm (f=1/6)
                 : Intes MK-67 Maksutov Type Reflector d=150mm f=1800mm (f=1/12)
Camera           : NIKON D7000 DSLR unmodified
                 : The Imaging Source DMK21AU4.AS monochrome USB highspeed camera
                 : Philips ToUcam 740 Color WebCam
Filter           : IR/UV Cut, Astronomik H-Alpha, Astronomik LRGB
add. optics      : ED 2x Barlow lens
                 : 35mm, 50mm, 135mm and 200mm NIKON lenses available
Mount            : VIXEN GP with MT1 / Littlefoot Controller
Guiding          : PHD
Aquisition       : Robust Sony VAYO Pentium4 Notebook (Windows XP) or DELL D820 DualCore (Windows 7)
Image Processing : ImagesPlus, NeatImage 7, PaintShopPro XI, PhotoShop LE 9, Registax 6, AviStack 2.0