#solarastronomy — Public Fediverse posts

Multiple flares with associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been observed over the past 24 hours, originating from Solar Active Region 4455, shown here. "Closely-spaced impacts on June 5th could produce strong G3-class geomagnetic storms," reports SpaceWeather .com, "with auroras in Europe and the USA at mid-latitudes." Of course, we are expecting cloudy skies, here in Northeast Ohio, when the aurora may occur. #spaceweather #aurora #sun #sunspot #solarastronomy #astronomy

A little scare, a quick fix

A couple of days ago, during a rather ambitious solar imaging session, the focuser on our Sky-Watcher HelioStar 76Ha telescope failed. And by failure, we mean the specialize diagonal that holds an eyepiece or camera would not stay put! The focuser would barely move the assembly and, once released, the diagonal plus camera would … zzzzzzip! … slide outward as far as it could. As one might expect, that sort of thing makes the telescope worthless. Disappointment? Disaster?

Contacting Agena Astro, the telescope’s seller, their rep. reminded us that the unit was still under warranty and supplied contact information for Sky-Watcher USA’s Support. Sending off an email describing the issue we waited a reply. “Sounds like the focuser might need to be adjusted,” came the reply a short time later. “Don’t worry we have a lot of adjustment with this focuser.” Adjusting three screws on the focuser, as instructed, and within five minutes the system was working good as new!

So there was a little scare. Excellent support provided by the retailer and the manufacturer. A quick fix. And we were able to take advantage of excellent conditions today, making images of our local star!