H alpha over Baader film

[notaclue]

While using Baader film on the telescope it gives a nice disk to observe.  But it seems the H-alpha is a bit better.

Can anyone say if there is an advantage between the two filters.  There is Calcium K but that is out of my price range.  So is Baader better than H-alpha or is the H-alpha better for prominances as I do not get to see them vis Baader filters.  Or can you see prominances in Baader apart from just sunspots?

[Stu]

I'm not entirely clear what you are asking, but you cannot see prominences using an H alpha filter with Baader film, the band pass is just not tight enough. To see proms you need a dedicated Ha scope or a Quark.....

[DrRobin]

Hi,

The Baader film gives you white light and the only features you will see are sun spots and some surface granulation.  H Alpha with a bandwidth of less than 1 Amstrong (1/10 th of a nanometer) will show the prominences as well as a wide array of surface features such as filaments and active regions.

Calcium K will also show similar features to H Alpha, but for most people the Calcium K band is above the visible part of the spectrum and so it is mainly for imaging. 

For visual/imaging H Alpha you can range from a second hand Coronado PST, Lunt 35, through a Daystar Quark, Lunt 60, to large apertures or narrow bandwidths.  There is an increase in price with each step.

I hope that helps.

Robin

[mcolbert]

Robin, typo... angstrom?  

michael