Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Feb 6, 2013 15:13:43 GMT -6
Shoot-out between the 102mm Celestron and the 90mm Meade Refractors
Solar Imaging
06 February 2013
Solar Imaging
06 February 2013
The weather forecast called for a bright and sunny morning. So I loaded the trusty 90mm Meade refractor and the untested 102mm Celestron refractor into the van and waited for the Sun's rays to reach my set-up spot.
Using the full aperture 11" solar filter securely taped on the OTAs and using the Orion 40mm & Zhumell 1.25" zoom eyepieces, we start.
I started out with the 102mm and took some shots...
Not bad...
I kept the white balance on the first one on Automatic, but I like the Tungsten setting for astro pics, and used it frequently here.
But go back and use the little handy Samsung 14 Mp pocket camera...
Popping on the 90mm Meade, we take similar shots....
Zooming in on the major sunspot groups....
The 102mm provides a slighter better resolution with the larger aperture...
Switching to the Canon Powershot S3....
I popped on the Seymour Solar Filter...
....although it provides an ok view in the eyepiece, the red hue of the filter, "softens" the image considerably. Details of the penumbra and faculae are lost with this filter. Good for a quick back-up...
Some back and forth between the scopes...
A little post-processing play...show the major sunspot groups nicely...
The 90mm Meade still performed as well as usual and never disappoints, but the 102mm gave slighter better performance in resolution - at the expense of chromatic aberration which is more pronounced in the larger scope.
A more technical and serious shoot-out is called for, but for this first solar shake-out session, the newer 102mm scope held it's own - nudging the resolution up from the 90mm. The Celestron is....ok....but not dramatically.
