How to Expertly Capture and Process the Sun in Hydrogen Alpha Step by Step
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
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This is a complete step-by-step tutorial on how I capture and process images of the sun using my Lunt 40 Hydrogen Alpha Solar Telescope, FireCapture, AutoStakkert, ImPPG, and Photoshop.
Download AutoStakkert: www.autostakkert.com/
Download ImPPG: greatattractor.github.io/imppg/
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Chapters:
0:00 The Agenda
1:21 My H-Alpha Setup Outside
2:12 Starting FireCapture and Focusing on the Sun
4:20 Taking Flat Frames with FireCapture
6:47 Stacking in AutoStakkert!3
5:40 Changing the Exposure settings and recording a video
10:25 Post-processing in ImPPG
16:10 Colorizing and further sharpening in Photoshop
20:38 Final thoughts
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Thank you for this video. I understand how to process Ha images.
Thanks 👍
Great video. Thank you so much.
Glad it was helpful! Clear skies!
Excellente vidéo…merci..c’est cool..
this is a great video
Thank you 😊
A very good video, very clear. But as me being a beginner in Solar photografy maybe a little bit slower talking. But anyway one of the very best videos for a beginner without sinking into to much detail !!
Glad this was helpful! And thanks for the feedback. I try to plan live streams a few days early, you should try and join if you can. I go through my entire process from capture to finished product and answer questions along the way. You can ask me questions as I go along or ask me to slow down and explain something if I sound like I'm zooming past it.
Also feel free to ask me questions here, I'm always happy to clarify.
commenting again I was very frustrated earlier today until i watch your video again it sure helped me out now my images look spot on! thanks again.
Glad this video is helpful 😊
thanks for this video! i just got my daystar scout the other day and was able to use it for 2 or 3 hours. i was able to get some images but they were a little out of focus. unfortunately since then we have had nothing but rain. when i can get back out im going to try some of the methods you have explained in the video. I did get a chance to download imppg and i find it very helpful. I have always used sharpcap but might have to give firecapture a try also. Again thanks for making this video i believe it will help me out a lot.
Congrats on your new scope! And sorry about the rain/clouds that it brought you, I know the pain!
I think Firecapture is definitely worth trying since it's free. I haven't used Sharpcap in a few years but I plan on doing another video like this with Sharpcap to show differences/similarities in the process. I haven't had a cloudless weekend in December yet so I haven't been able to do anything. Hopefully I'll get at least one day in January!
I'm glad this video is helpful but please feel free to reach out if you have questions. Best of luck and Clear skies!
Great video. Would be great to see how you would string these together into a time-lapse.
Thank you!
Doing a solar timelapse tutorial is in my queue. I actually planned on uploading one at the end of November but due to complications with my images and the amount of manual adjustments I needed to make, I couldn't come up with a standard format that everyone could follow. So I ended up just doing this short: czcams.com/users/shortsJXfsQuE1GIk
I'm hoping I can get the timelapse tutorial up in February if I can get another solar astro session done in the coming weeks.
i am very new to solar and have similar setup to yours, which is lunt50 and same qhy cam you have. i cant believe how sharp your images are. if at some point you could talk about focusing would be great. i noticed you do it at 2s v our normal exp time
Congrats on your new Lunt!
If you're referring to the 2.070 exposure value, I misspoke, I should have said "milliseconds" instead of "seconds." My goal at that point is to get enough contrast and brightness on the sun so that I can make fine adjustments more easily.
If you have more questions, let me know. Also feel free to join the Discord server (invite in the description) and ask there. Have fun with your new scope! Clear skies!
Lots of great tips Naz! I just finished my first attempt today, and man was I struggling at first. You should have put this video out yesterday! LOL. Can't wait to get back out there with what I learned from this video. I'm still scratching my head as to why my 0.5 focal reducer had zero effect, but that's a battle for another day. Oh and I hate the sliders in imPPG! I spent way too long thinking something was wrong when they kept snapping back to the center. HaHa! I was happy to see my videos looked similar to yours in FC. I thought my focus was off or the Daystar just wasn't showing me the detail I expected. I still need to process those videos. I ended up trying my UV/IR cut filter, and wow did the sun pop during capture, so that's the one I stacked/processed today. Again, great video man! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Rich!!
Weird that the reducer didn't work! If you figure it out, let me know, I'm curious. I still need to test my setup with a Barlow because I want to do some close ups of prominences.
I feel you about the ImPPG sliders. Having used AstroPixelProcessor for years, I got used to that kind of slider so when I started using ImPPG it didn't even register for me. But when I first started APP, I thought I was doing something wrong.
I need to test my setup with Sharpcap and see if the live view is any different from Firecapture. Focusing is always the hardest part. Between vibrations, air movements, and being outside in the bright sun, we need a way to auto focus!
I'm glad to hear you are having fun with your scope! Can't wait to see what you come up with.
I meant to upload this video last week but an hour before it went live, I watched the video and I really didn't like the flow so I took it down and focused on my Jupiter video instead. It was almost 40 mins long and I knew I had to redo a bunch of it to make it more consumable but still informative. I'm happy with the flow of this version (version 3!).
Clear skies!
You are extremely lucky to be able to use FireCapture, I like FireCapture but this latest version wont load up on my computer for some reason. The founder can't work out what the problem is. I have had a computer technician look at and he can't work it out either. I am getting the SkyWatcher Star Tracker GTi for my PST40 scope to do some solar photography. Cheers Robert Aust'
Ah strange! What kind of computer do you have?
And can you run an older version of Firecapture? If the new one won't work maybe an older version still will.
@@Naztronomy I got to thinking that I had copies on a back up memory stick, so I selected the FireCapture folder opened it up and low and behold it loaded up. So the next step is plug in a camera and see what happens.
It works, but it is unpredictable the version is 2.6.08 So now that it is on my computer I can play around with it.
Cheers Robert
@@newbee1016 Glad you found a backup version that works! Hopefully the camera works too when you connect it. Make sure you have the drivers installed if needed. If you have a ZWO or QHY camera, I have another video where I went over the process of installing everything: czcams.com/video/1vGWXPqUTGE/video.html
@@Naztronomy Thanks for your follow up. I have copied the 2.6 version from the back up and put it on the desk top from there I can load up the program and use it. I have played around with a ZWO Asi 120 taking some video and it appears to work okay. My SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTi arrives Monday so I will be hoping that the program will work when it is connected to the mount. If you wish I can let you know how I get on. Cheers Robert.
@@newbee1016 Awesome! Glad to hear it's going well. And yes, would be happy to know how your journey is going when you get your Star Adventurer GTi. I'm actually waiting for a SkyWatcher AZ-GTi scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday! I almost got the Star Adventurer GTi but I wanted an Alt-az star tracker for now.
So excited to get my solar scope now
Where did you order from and what configuration did you get?
I have a friend who also ordered a Lunt 40 a couple months ago, still waiting for delivery. He's hoping it gets here before the eclipse.
Haven't ordered yet, plan on ordering 40 w/ b600 Friday from the lunt website
Cool, good luck! You should call them before you order and ask them what their backlog looks like. They're pretty responsive. I had to wait a few months before I got mine and talking to them ahead of time set expectations so I didn't get too impatient.
Great video.
As a newbie I always figured you'd have to have a bigger aperture like the 50/60 to get this kinda of detail. Seems it doesnt matter. Or is it really the B filter that matters with that?
I dont have a solar scope atm. Though I have definitely been looking into them. Somewhat confusing. I use my Nikon P1000 atm for white light. It opened the door to this kind of stuff.
Thank you!
For solar imaging, you can get great detail with a 40mm aperture if combined with a decent camera and capture/processing techniques. Before the 40mm, Lunt used to make a 35mm and you'd see great detail on the sun with that too.
The blocking filter doesn't really matter but double stacking the Etalon will give you an image with higher contrast so you can see more details. I'm only single stacking so I rely on my processing techniques to get contrast out of the sun.
Bigger aperture and longer focal length will let you get better detail of the surface but for me, the slight increase in detail wasn't worth paying the extra cost of the 50 or 60mm. It would be worth it to go from 40mm to 80 or 100mm because then you can get really close to the surface.
I have a few other vides on the Lunt, including this one where I go over reasons why I chose the 40 over the 50 (czcams.com/video/a0NDs0DoWoA/video.html). Let me know if you have any questions. Happy to answer!
I also have another setup for white light imaging that I've been using for almost 12 years.
Great video, thanks for that. I did not get what blockfilter is on your Lunt. 400/500 or 600. The Lunt 40mm is quite attractive in price, with the 500 blockfilter, but with the 600 which Lunt says is needed if you want to do astrography(take pictures and videos), the price quickly stacks up over the 60mm Daystar, which then seems more interesting.
Thank you!
I agree that the whole unit is very pricey and the price increases drastically when you try for larder blocking filters. With that said, you *can* take photos with the B500 filter. The apparent size of the sun in the Lunt 40 is 4mm. So you'll have about 0.5mm clearance around the sun with the B500 if the sun is perfectly centered.
For the first few months of imaging the sun, my camera's sensor was actually too small for even the B600 so I wasn't getting the full sun no matter what I tried. So my solution was to take two videos, One of the top half and one of the bottom half and then composite them together to make a full disk. You can do the same with the B500 filter. Just aim to get half the sun and you can stitch it together later.
The only reason I bought a camera with a bigger sensor is because I wanted to do live streams of the whole disk AND I also wanted a new guide cam with a bigger sensor.
If you haven't seen this yet, check this video around the 2:38 mark and I show an example of how I took two cropped videos and composited them together: czcams.com/video/qdMyOYqru2I/video.html
And my first light video of the Lunt 40, I briefly go over the blocking filter there around the 7:45 mark: czcams.com/video/a0NDs0DoWoA/video.html - I also talk about why I picked the Lunt 40 over the Daystar Quark which may be of interest to you.
In my opinion, I think Lunt should change their wording to say "recommended for astrophotography" instead of making it sound like you absolutely need the B600 or higher to image the sun.
Let me know if you have any questions, happy to share what I know!
This is a great video. I took your advice and kept the order for the Lunt 40. I want to take pics with it and can see from your images that there is much more detail than the camera.
Is the QHY5III200M the best option for the camera? Did you buy it directly from the manufacturer?
I hope that you enjoyed the eclipse! It was an amazing experience. I was recording with the p1000 and the video crashed right before totality. Then started back up and the vids were all corrupted. A software company is trying to repair them lol
Thank you!
I use the QHY5III178m camera, not the 200m. I looked up the specs on the 200M, they look fine but the pixel size is about 50% larger than the 178m. Which is fine, but just wanted to mention that.
I bought mine used from someone on CloudyNights.
The eclipse was great for us and I'm sorry to hear about your troubles! Hopefully the company can repair them for you and you get something out of them. Best of luck!
@@Naztronomy right on. Looks like these cameras is a whole other deal. Not sure what to buy. It looks like the model that you have is no longer available. Is there a different brand or model that you think would be comparable? I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.
Ah yeah looks like it's been discontinued everywhere. I just linked someone to it a couple of months ago. The ASi174mm is a super popular one for H-alpha imaging: agenaastro.com/catalog/product/view/id/6001/s/zwo-asi174mm-mini-cmos-monochrome-astronomy-imaging-camera?rfsn=7382615.2b333e
It has larger pixels and works really well as a guide cam too for nighttime astrophotography.
I'd also recommend joining CloudyNights if you aren't already a member and look at the classifieds. You can find really nice deals on cameras and oftentimes, they'll post example pictures they've taken with the camera (or you can ask for them if they didn't list any).
@@Naztronomy I just ended up ordering that ZWO asi174 mini from the link that you sent. I really appreciate that. The Lunt should be here today or tomorrow. The camera maybe next week.
I also ended up joining the Cloudy Nights forum.
Greatly appreciate all of the insight. There is so much to learn with this stuff. Quite overwhelmed at the moment :)
@@multispeciesangler Awesome! Hope the Lunt gets to you soon and you have a few clear days to play with it.
The hobby can definitely be overwhelming so my advice is to take it one step at a time. And feel free to reach out if you have questions or any video ideas that you think would help a broader audience.
Clear skies!
do you still need a solar filter when recording the sun?
Yep! For hydrogen alpha imaging like I do in this video, you need a special filter that only passes a very narrow wavelength of the sun's light.
@@Naztronomy I have Celestron 8se, which H-alpha filter do you think I should get? something not gonna break the bank for now and will do a good job?
Unfortunately, I don't think you can easily turn an SCT into an h-alpha telescope for solar viewing. You can look up the Daystar Quark which will go on your telescope like an Eyepiece but they recommend refractors from f/4 to f/8 refractors.
For an SCT, the central obstruction will impact what you can see. You'll need to get an ERF (Energy Reducing Filter) on the front and it will need to be off-axis which will make the image look a bit weird. You can probably read some threads on CloudyNights and see if anyone else has tried this with an SCT.
Otherwise, getting a used Lunt 40 or something may be the cheapest option. Because the Daystar Quark itself is around $1300.
@@Naztronomy thank you very much
Open your wallet - he he.