10 replies to this topic

[vrodriguez2324]

Greetings, Solar Observers and Imagers

 

I have a very basic question. The motivation for my question can be found in a thread I started in the refractor forum.

https://www.cloudyni...joy/?p=14026932

 

TLDR:

 

I've been having a blast with the DayStar Quark Chromosphere. First with my AT102ED and later a nice 60mm f/7 joined in for full disc views. Wanting a mechanical upgrade I happened upon an ST80. 

 

My brother's hobby is 3d printing, he is going to make me a 60mm aperture mask for the ST80 to get it closer to f/7.

 

My question is very basic and possibly of no consequence. Does the color of the mask matter.? I wanted to go with Orange or Red to match some of my other accessories like the Quark itself, the battery power tank, the harbor freight case, and the Orion Twist Tight Diagonal. Is black or another color better?

 

-Victor

Edited by vrodriguez2324, 24 March 2025 - 12:01 PM.

[triplemon]

You don't need a 3D printer to make an aperture mask.

The ST80 front cap has a hole in it, covered by a smaller cap - that is meant to be used as aperture mask.

 

And for any other diameter - just take a piece of cardboard, any color, brand or quality, cut a hole in it and place that into the dew shield.

Edited by triplemon, 24 March 2025 - 12:58 PM.

[Spikey131]

BTW, the Quark Chromosphere was designed to work with refractors with f/ratios from f/4-f/8.  The built in 4x lenses will increase the native f/4-f/8 ratio to f/16-f/32.

 

So you do not need an aperture mask. 

 

I use my Quark frequently with scopes as fast as f/5.4 with good results.  Aperture masks that I made in the past seemed to make no difference.

[vrodriguez2324]

You don't need a 3D printer to make an aperture mask.

The ST80 front cap has a hole in it, covered by a smaller cap - that is meant to be used as aperture mask.

 

And for any other diameter - just take a piece of cardboard, any color, brand or quality, cut a hole in it and place that into the dew shield.

I'll try it first with the 42mm opening in the lens cap. You aren't the first to recommend this =)

 

BTW, the Quark Chromosphere was designed to work with refractors with f/ratios from f/4-f/8.  The built in 4x lenses will increase the native f/4-f/8 ratio to f/16-f/32.

 

So you do not need an aperture mask. 

 

I use my Quark frequently with scopes as fast as f/5.4 with good results.  Aperture masks that I made in the past seemed to make no difference.

Other users have also said this as well. If the 42mm mask doesn't make a difference I may as well just use it at full aperture, 80mm @ f/5. Thanks!

 

-Victor

Edited by vrodriguez2324, 24 March 2025 - 02:26 PM.

[ABQJeff]

With a Quark Chromosphere, you will find at faster F/ ratios the prominences will appear better, at higher F/ ratios the contrast and surface features will appear better. This is because at faster F/ ratios the band pass is wider thus as the hydrogen gas cools in a prominence and goes off band you will still see the full extent of it. Thus why the Quark prominence filter is a wider band pass vs the Chromosphere.

I can play this fact and optimize to both features with my 80mm F/6 and Quark Chromosphere. I can tune it to get good prominence and surface features even though the scope is a little fast than optimal for max surface performance.

Edited by ABQJeff, 24 March 2025 - 09:47 PM.

[vrodriguez2324]

With a Quark Chromosphere, you will find at faster F/ ratios the prominences will appear better, at higher F/ ratios the contrast and surface features will appear better. This is because at faster F/ ratios the band pass is wider thus as the hydrogen gas cools in a prominence and goes off band you will still see the full extent of it. Thus why the Quark prominence filter is a wider band pass vs the Chromosphere.

I can play this fact and optimize to both features with my 80mm F/6 and Quark Chromosphere. I can tune it to get good prominence and surface features even though the scope is a little fast than optimal for max surface performance.

Jeff, 

 

My example of the Quark Chromosphere has its optimum setting with the tuning knob set at the full counter clockwise position. I started at the middle as suggested per Daystar's instructions but the views appeared uniformly granulated (not sure if this is the right term) across the entire disc, filaments are barely noticeable. I started adjusting the tuning the knob towards the right and it got worse each time (waiting for a green light every time) and at the full clockwise position it could see sunspots, almost like looking through some Baader solar film. 

 

Then I started turning left. With each successive counter clockwise turn the filaments became darker and bright plagues started to appear. At full CCW the views are very similar to what I see on the GONG website. I see abundant details in both prominences and on the surface. If I unplug it the views start to degrade within a minute. 

 

In my Quark I don't get any additional benefit in the prominence features in any other position. I haven't used it at anything faster than f/7. 

 

I've recently got the SW 72ED and an Orion ST80. I will experiment at f/6 and f/5 and report back. 

 

-Victor

[eblanken]

Hi Victor,

 

I have tried some masks with PETG on my 3-d printer. I too wanted to have some color other than black, so I tried Prusa Orange and White. I found that the light leakage thru both Orange and White was too much. I plan to try again, but put some aluminum foil inside the mask to prevent the light leaking thru the lighter PETG. I will have to find a way to trim the foil and glue the foil, but my goal is to have a variety of masks to try for different f#s.

 

Best,

 

Ed

[rigel123]

I had a mask made for my ED80T for CaK.  I had it made in white thinking that might be best to avoid any problem with it getting hot and causing turbulence in front of the lens.  It works great.

 

[TareqPhoto]

I had a mask made for my ED80T for CaK.  I had it made in white thinking that might be best to avoid any problem with it getting hot and causing turbulence in front of the lens.  It works great.

 

From where you got that white cap mask?

[rigel123]

From where you got that white cap mask?

I had it made by Arrow 3D, a small company run by a veteran that does this as a side job.  I put small, felt pads around the inside rim to keep it snug on the front of the scope.

Edited by rigel123, 31 March 2025 - 08:55 PM.

[TareqPhoto]

I had it made by Arrow 3D, a small company run by a veteran that does this as a side job.  I put small, felt pads around the inside rim to keep it snug on the front of the scope.

Nice, i really feel i should buy myself a 3D printer so i can DIY more, thanks.