First light Meade Herschel Wedge, April 21, 2024

[Bigzmey]

I was always curios about Herschel wedges. Saw used one on sale for a good price and could not resist. The 2” Meade Herschel wedge I got looks like a re-brand of APM and Altair Astro wedges. Like Baader wedge it comes with integrated ceramic heat dispersion plate which also serves as a solar finder. The wedge has built in ND3 and polarizer filters. The later gives you convenience of dialing-in image brightness by rotating the EP holder.

The wedge came in aluminum case and appeared well built and more massive than I was expecting. I have paired it with Meade 80mm F5 achro, which has been my dedicated wight light solar scope. The wedge seems to weigh more than the scope itself. I had to get creative rotating the focuser and pushing the scope as high as I can in the mount clamp to balance it.

To deploy my Lunt HA scope in parallel with the white light I went with dual setup on the iOptron AZMP mount. Since it was the first time I was using these two scopes and also doing solar with the AZMP, it took over an hour to set it up. Since it is solar I did not want to rush things either.

I had a bit of surprise when one tripod leg fell off while I was moving the mount. Apparently the screw holding it in place loosen up and fell off when I was bringing the mount in after previous session. Luckily, I caught it before any damage was done.

Finally, everything was in place and ready to go, including the umbrella. From that point everything went smoothly. I started with TV solar finder to locate the sun and fine-tuned using the wedge back window. The scopes were well aligned, and the sun disk was within FOV in both scopes.

I have started with Celestron X-Cel LX 25mm EPs in both scopes (16x WL and 14x HA) and was rewarded with smallish but sharp views. Sun disk was a bit too bright in WL setup, so I added Celestron #21 Orange and Meade ND 0.9 filters to the EP. It brought the brightness to the pleasant level and painted the sun disk in a nice yellow color.

Next, I stepped up the power to 32x with Pentax XF 12.5mm. They don’t lie when they say that Herschel wedges provide sharpest WL views. The fine details in umbra and penumbra were quite apparent, including multiple tinny satellite spots. I tried higher power in attempt to see granulation. However, it was already afternoon and seeing was bad. At 50x the image lost fine details.

I have switched to HA scope, and it did not disappoint either. The best views for today were achieved with Pentax XF 8mm (44x). There were less proms (only 3) compared to last week and no arches or loops. Still, the amount of details in the sun disk was mesmerizing. I think I spent half hour just looking at the intricate structure of just one group of sunspots. Scanning the surface with pressure module added extra level of resolution and complexity.

My wife stopped by and enjoyed the views to. It seems Sunday solar sessions becoming our tradition.

[StarHugger]

Sounds a nice session with an even nicer new edition...

Cool find.

[messier 111]

it's very pleasant to do side by side, you're right they are identical, it's just the name that changes.
have fun with your new toy.
I posted the photo of my wedge.

[Bigzmey]

Thanks Aaron and Jean-Yves!

@messier 111 What setup (scope, mount, filters) do you use with your wedge?

[messier 111]

Thanks Aaron and Jean-Yves!

@messier 111 What setup (scope, mount, filters) do you use with your wedge?

I use it with my 125 mm photoline on my eq6 pro.
without filter, just the one inside the wedge.

Previously I used it with my televue 85, but exchanged it for my lunt.

ps ; I will probably also use it with my lunt ls 80 mt one of these days .

[Lady Fraktor]

Enjoy the views Bigzmey, I have been enjoying the Baader wedge for a couple decades now.
Are your polarizer after the ND filter? You can burn through one if before the ND.

[Bigzmey]

Enjoy the views Bigzmey, I have been enjoying the Baader wedge for a couple decades now.
Are your polarizer after the ND filter? You can burn through one if before the ND.

Thanks Gabby! Yes, the polarizer is factory installed after ND3. I am using additional ND to block more light.

[StarHugger]

Thanks Aaron and Jean-Yves!

@messier 111 What setup (scope, mount, filters) do you use with your wedge?

I use the wedge in my 70 & 80mm ed refractors, a nd3+circularpolarizer+iruvcut for visual as a solar wedge is polarized using the additional single circular polarizer creates a dual polarizing effect that is designed to adjust and control light intensity through the wedge for visual observations.

The ir uv cut is to protect your eyes from harmful uv and ir while solar observing and I never view the Sun in any solar filtered magnified optic without this added protection, 53 percent of the Suns light output is infrared radiation.

The questions for me would be what filters havent I tried yet in my wedge and how many more will I try lots more...

For imaging I run a 1.2 or 1.8ND in the wedge and adjust light further with ND 2, 4, 8, & 16 filters on the 1.25 camera nosepiece, My wedge is the baader cool ceramic modified to 1.25 eyepiece camera adapter.

Static alt az mounts.

Densities...

[Graeme1858]

Sounds like a good session Andrey. An inspiration to get an Hα filter.

And a Sunday solar sessions tradition is an excellent thing to start up!

Graeme

[Bigzmey]

Thanks Graeme! HA worth every penny.

Any of you have tried Baader continuum filter with your wedge for visual?

[Lady Fraktor]

Any of you have tried Baader continuum filter with your wedge for visual?

I have used it many times, it really makes surface granulation and sunspots more defined.