Daystar Quark Chromosphere Eyepiece: Unboxing and First Light

Join me as I gather first light with the Daystar Quark Chromosphere Eyepiece.
Daystar at Highpoint Scientific
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[@mauricezundel2333]

Hello, great presentation. be careful to observe the sun, you need a UV/IR filter in front of the diagonal star. the invisible excess of UV-A and -B rays causes an early cataract of the eye. With an aperture of 80mm and more it is necessary to use an ERF filter in full aperture to avoid heating the inside of the telescope and reducing the life of the Quark.
Good sun and congratulations

[@Skymarshal57]

Very good Presentation. The twin Spots are impressive. I purchased a Daystar Calcium H Filter recently. It works the Same Way. It is reliable and stabile, provides very good pictures, too.

[@jeffballphoto]

Thank you for the kind words. Never looked through a calcium. Glad it works well for you. Clear skies.

[@Aerostar509]

There you are! Great video.

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks so much Tim. Everything finally lined up…kinda Lol.

[@starman6092]

Nice video Jeff. I just purchased the DayStar Quark Chromosphere Eyepiece like yours from High Point and doing some research. Thanks for the helpful info and tips. I'm hoping to get some great photos of our Star soon. I plan on pairing it up with my GT81, ES102 and ES127 telescopes. Cheers!

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks Starman and congrats. Would love to hear about your experience with the GT81. That may be a full disk view with a 40mm eyepiece. Enjoy!

[@edwardtenes6507]

Nice presentation, l live in Panamá during your winter months and back to Missouri during the summer. 9” of snow is all l need to remind me of why l winter here. I looking forward to purchasing one of eyepieces to supplement my PST l have here.

[@jeffballphoto]

Thank you for the kind words and for watching.

[@FrancoContreras]

Great as always!

[@jeffballphoto]

Thank you Franco! Hope all is well.

[@ShevillMathers]

There are two models, each optimised either surface detail (chromosphere) or prominence detail. You have to decide what interests you most. Greetings from Tasmania Australia 🇦🇺🦘

[@delfordchaffin5617]

Great video! That thing is nice.

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks Delford. Really enjoyed the views today. It was nice to get out. Hope all is well.

[@geldingmakr]

@@jeffballphoto This gear has been on my wish list since Delford mentioned it to me 10 months ago or so. Great video Jeff!!

[@jeffballphoto]

@@geldingmakr thank you so much. I had a Coronado SolarMax on a TV 85 in a previous life. Always regretted getting rid of it. This seemed like a good option with the 92mm AP. May look for a shorter focal length to get full disk viewing. It was a great afternoon under the sun. Need to work on video acquisition and processing! Take care and thanks again.

[@craiglowery4427]

Nice video. I like your style so I subscribed. How did you polar align your your scope?

[@jeffballphoto]

Thank you so much for the very kind words and for subscribing. In the daylight, I just use my compass app on my iPhone and get it as close as possible. It’s generally good enough. Thanks again and have a great day.

[@konstantinospapastamos6340]

Amazing video Jeff, thanks! Question, how do you capture the images, as part of a video and then stack the best frames? also at what resolution?

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks so much for watching and the kind words Konstantinos. I have a lot to learn with regards to video capture and final stacking for a still image. In this video I was using 1920x1080 for video capture and around 20 frames per second. The seeing conditions were so poor I never really processed the data. I am hoping for some good quality seeing this spring/summer. I plan on using a program like Astrostakkert for finding and aligning the highest quality frames from which to stack for the final image. Here is a great resource from Jerry Lodriguss on high resolution planetary imaging. I am just a beginner in this area and only plan to dabble. I wish you the best and hope this information is helpful. www.astropix.com/html/astrophotography/planetary_imaging.html

[@bhastro9959]

with my Quark I cannot use the same camera gain for the sunspots and prominences. I need low gain for sunspots and high gain for proms, and with the high gain surface detail is completely overexposed. What am I doing wrong?

[@jeffballphoto]

You’re doing nothing wrong. That is the large dynamic range from the chromosphere to the prominences. You can two properly exposures and layer them together or stretch the lower exposed with a photoshop mask. Keep enjoying your quark.

[@penguin272]

Hey, also looking for the CEM40, as this is your latest video, still happy with it?

[@jeffballphoto]

Yes. It has been a very reliable mount for me.

[@yf222000]

Hello. I’d like to ask. Did you use your ASI cam through a diagonal or straight through? Thx.

[@jeffballphoto]

I kept the diagonal in place. May need extension tubes if going straight through.

[@piertechinc]

Great job. Do you know how the difference between your daystar and the Daystar .3A QPE H-Alpha Solar Filter?

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks for watching and the nice words. Looks like about $33,000, give or take.

[@piertechinc]

@@jeffballphoto if you had a choice between a lunt 152mm solar telescope and a 152mm refractor with the Quantum 0.3 angstrom filter, which route would you go?

[@jeffballphoto]

@@piertechinc I really can’t answer that question. Very sorry. I am not sure what differences there would be between the two instruments. The dedicated solar scope may be the way to go if that is your primary interest. I, personally, favor a more flexible instrument for deep
Sky and solar. I would think that focal length instrument really needs a high percentage of VERY steady seeing days to take full advantage of it. Good luck.

[@marcusransom9334]

What size and what type of filter did you use in front of the Diagonal?

[@jeffballphoto]

A 2” UV/IR filter.

[@raulmunoz2296]

You show here what you get processing image through camera right? My question Is...what do you actually see just visually?

[@jeffballphoto]

Yes Raul , the CMOS chip sees differently than the eye. The eye actually sees more detail than the CMOS chip. The eye can see a wider dynamic range which is very helpful in seeing chromosphere detail and prominence detail at the same time. I wish the photographic image was as good as the view at the eyepiece, but it doesn’t compare.

[@fennellrob]

Thanks for the great video. I am instructed in using on my skywatcher EvoStar 100 refractor. Did you determine why you need to use the diagonal?

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks for watching. I assembled the image train per the Daystar instructions including diagonal. Not sure it is required, as long as there is a UV/IR cut filter in front of the eyepiece. Sure makes for a more comfortable viewing angle.

[@rcpilot9963]

@@jeffballphoto I think that UV/IR cut filter in diagonal is to protect etalon filter in quark to prolong its durability.

[@jeffballphoto]

@@rcpilot9963 that is correct.

[@campo.de.estrellas]

Hi. Do You use D-ERF filter?

[@jeffballphoto]

Hello. No. I only use a UV/IR filter per instructions and as I discuss in the video.

[@Daniel_DP83]

You should attention to the temperature 40°F to 100°F otherwise the lifespan of your Quark can decrease with factor 2 or 3!

[@jeffballphoto]

Thanks.