Back in September I made a rather large purchase from FLO which included a Baader steeltrack focuser and Skywatcher UHC filter, purchased mainly with the Orion nebula in mind (this particular filter was recommended to me for Orion by the nice chaps at FLO), so I've been waiting for an opportunity to try it out since then.

In the mean-time my Maplins power tank died, I've been trying to purchase a replacement AGM battery for it but that has been delayed so the other day I ordered another identical Maplins power tank, this arrived and I charged it up, all that was needed now was some good weather.

Tonight was forecast clear on my weather app so when I looked outside at 8.30pm and saw it was indeed clear, I made my move to start setting up with the NEQ6 and new battery pack.

I didn't mess about, I went straight for the Orion nebula and slotted in the PanaView 38mm with UHC filter attached - WOW! It's been probably almost a year since I last observed the Orion nebula using this scope and eyepiece, it has lost none of it's grandeur. I observed for several minutes, trying to see all the little details in the cloud mass and the stars within. I wasn't expecting the main stars in the nebula to be green, very interesting. The nebula itself looked grey as without the filter, but there was definitely more of it visible.

Then the clouds rolled in, and a light snow flurry stopped play for about 10 - 15 minutes. I covered the scope and eyepiece and waited it out. Just as I was about to give in the sky suddenly cleared, the game was back on!

I had a crack at Jupiter with my 10mm X-Cel and moon filter, very nice! Seeing not excellent, deteriorated a bit while I was observing too, but good while it lasted. Best views were with the 25mm Celestron kit eyepiece.

Getting cold now, but still plenty of steam left so I headed back to Orion for a comparison with and without the UHC filter. I would say that the filter added about 50% to what was visible, mainly by using averted vision on the nebula cloud; I could also noticed some nebulosity at the top of the main cloud too which I had not seen before, surrounding a fairly bright star.

To finish off my night's observing I pointed my 10mm at Betelgeuse, with all it's fiery redness.

The new Maplins power tank performed very well, the NEQ6 power LED remained solid throughout and tracking appeared to be working a treat (though I still haven't got precise alignment sussed, it's good enough for me). This was after about three hours of use, including two Astrozap dew heater tapes on one channel of an Astrozap controller turned up to full (because it was close to 0 degrees or colder).

So, was the UHC filter worth the £60 I paid for it? For me, definitely. There are many frivolous things one could spend £60 on, but to be able to see that small bit more of the cosmos has to be worth it.

One very cold pair of hands later (after carrying all that cold metal inside, brrr!) and the power tank on charge (using my brand new Ring Smart Charger), I can go to bed happy that I've achieved a major goal for the season.