RobertI

Thanks for the thoughts Louis and Don. My filters live in a manual filter wheel at the moment, so I can flick between them quickly, although obviously I can’t stack!

It’s an Astronomik Hb, same as my other filters. Yes I do have 40mm Plossl which came with my C8 purchased 25 years ago - it’s still rolling around my eyepiece tray somewhere, never really used, so it will be good to find a use for it! I shall definitely give is a go, good suggestion, although I hope my pupil can expand large enough (5.7mm so should be ok I think). As for the Heritage 130, another good idea, I was thinking about that, it has worked really well with the OIII in the past so will give a go. 👍

I have never lost the wonder of looking at certain celestial objects. When you gaze into the heart of the fiery Orion Nebula and see the crucible of the Trapezium where stars are being born, and tendrils of illuminated gas spanning light years, it does give me a sense of our place in the Universe and a perspective on the mundane problems of life. Unfortunately these feelings rarely permeate my day to day stresses and anxieties, but I do feel a duty to spread the message and enlighten others when I can.

Interesting John, I have switched between OIII, UHC and no filter on M42 and it is equally interesting to see the difference - switching in the Hb should be really interesting. The filter wheel is great for this, makes switching easy and the difference views immediately obvious.

Love both of these, can you say more about the first scope?

Interesting additional comments on these object Steve. I can only comment on the California neb so far using my 102ED and a 32mm Plossl giving an exit pupil of 4.6mm - the nebula was clearly visible but dim with the Hb, but when I tried with an OIII or UHC or no filter I couldn’t see it at all. I’ll definitely try some of these others as I am curious now, but I suspect I started with the best nebula of the bunch.

I’ll let you know how I get on John! I’m not really expecting to have much luck with the Horsehead tbh.

Thanks Don, great list I’ll give some of these a go.

@josefk I would second Stu’s comment, I would even say that an OIII can have an almost magical effect on the Veil and other objects as described in this observing report. Sorry to divert thread.

Just an update to this rather old thread for posterity. I ended up purchasing a Hb filter but only recently got round to trying it out. Using my 4” apo and a 32mm plossl, I had a go at the California nebula in Perseus. I was not really expecting to see anything but was really surprised to pick it up straight away - it was large and dim, but immediate and unmistakeable. I also tried with a UHC, OIII and no filter, but the nebula was completely invisible. Back to the Hb and it popped into view again. It was worth the purchase just to see the California neb to be honest, as I’d never managed it before. Looking forward to trying the elusive Horsehead over the winter, possibly with the C8. There appear to be a few other more obscure “Hb friendly” nebulae which I’ll also have a go at some time.

Probably my widest field setup is my 60mm F3.75 finder with my 24mm 68 degree eyepiece, giving a whopping 7.5 degrees field of view! The aberrations are quite unpleasant though. I can use my 38mm Panaview with my 66mm refractor, giving a 7 degrees FOV, there is theoretical vignetting but not actually noticeable. But my everyday wide field setup is my 102ED and 38mm Panaview giving 3.9 degrees. Stupidly I sold my Megrez 72mm which was a brilliant wide field scope with a 2” focuser. I know this is a “show me” thread, so better show a picture I guess…..

Although I’ve been observing for a long time, the moon has just never excited me, and as a result I still know shockingly little about the lunar surface. When I discovered the bino-viewing experience, and the wow factor they give on moon and planets, I was hopeful that I would do more lunar, but it’s not yet happened. Recently I did enjoy discovering lunar domes and I’m sure there are plenty of other types of feature I need to discover, but I’ve not been tempted out again. Perhaps I just need a good lunar observing book to inspire me……..

Sorry to hear about your personal losses and injuries. Sounds like you’ve been having a tough time, hope things are improving for you. The garden and observing great.

I did not know that about the discovery of Pickering’s wisp, interesting info, thank you. If you do ever end up at Kelling, let me know. 🙂

Thanks Peter, I would definitely invest in an OIII filter, it’s worth it for the Veil alone, but works like magic on so many other nebulae, including those tiny planetaries. On the Veil, the OIII will show more structure and detail than a UHC. When I got my 2” Panaview, it was for the express purpose of fitting the whole veil complex into the entire FOV, so I also bought a 2” UHC, kinda wish I’d gone for a 2” OIII instead! I can see the whole complex with this setup - it’s fascinating but I wouldn’t say it’s worth the hassle of digging out the massive 2” eyepiece and rebalancing the scope! But I might need to experiment more with longer focal length 2” eyepieces and the larger exist pupils they provide.

Totally agree John. I enjoy using filters so much I have a manual filter wheel semi-permanently attached between the diagonal and the eyepiece. It has an OIII, UHC, UHCE and now Hb attached. It’s fun to swap between them, although the UHCE rarely wins - it can act as a mild light pollution filter sometimes.

Super session with the 4” tonight, great views of the Veil and North America nebulas, challenging view of the Crescent, and an amazing view of the California nebula with my new Hb filter. Full report here.

Finding myself under a beautiful transparent sky with a 4” Apo, I had to decide my plan for the next couple hours. On a whim I got out the 38mm 2” Panaview to get some super-wide views of my favourite object, the Veil nebula. Surprisingly I couldn’t find it but when I applied the 2” UHC filter it popped into view, the East and West easily seen with Pickering’s wisp area also visible. On another whim I thought I would try my new 32mm Plossl with the OIII filter - the improvement was very noticeable with both sides of the nebula just shining brightly - the extra contrast provided by the OIII and extra magnification to darken the sky really paid dividends. The 32mm is not a particularly comfortable eyepiece to use so I put in the 17mm Morpheus with the OIII and got a much more comfortable and immersive experience, and although the nebula became a ghostly grey, the tendrils of the Eastern Veil were easier to see. Under a really dark sky, this would be my choice of eyepiece for the Veil with this scope I think. Impressed with the performance of the 32mm Plossl and OIII filter at brightening the Veil, I thought I’d have a go at my nemesis, the Crescent Nebula, a target whose full shape has so far eluded me. I quickly found the faint glow of the nebula in star-field I now know so well, and over the course of the next half hour I got closer to seeing what seems like an oval cloud, but I could never see anything that resembled a Crescent. I feel under a really dark sky, I could crack this one using the 32mm Plossl and an OIII, potentially even with the C8 - hopefully I will find out at Kelling in a few weeks. Scanning up through the Milky Way with the 32mm and OIII still in, past Sadir, revealed a strange world of light a dark clouds suffused with thousands of stars. Up past Deneb and I came upon the North America nebula and, oh boy, what a sight! I have never seen the Gulf of Mexico so clear and well defined and scanning around the huge nebula it was easy to see the shape of much of it, but the Gulf of Mexico was a standout and should be a target object in its own right. Definitely my best ever view of this object. Finally, I remembered I had bought an Hb filter last year and the California nebula in Perseus is a good target, an object I have never seen before. So switching the filter wheel to the Hb, staying with the 32mm Plossl I slewed across. A well defined glow was immediately apparent, sausage shaped and slightly larger than the field of view. The top portion (west?) was very easy to see and scanning down the length the edges were still easy to see but not quite so obvious. No detail or structure was visible, but this was a very pleasing catch and a first. I switched to the OIII and UHC (the manual filter wheel makes this easy to do) but the nebula was completely invisible. So the Hb does work - highly recommended. So a great evening. The 32mm Plossl was very good at revealing dim objects but I do not find it terribly comfortable to use - perhaps a 2” eyepiece at this focal length might be something to consider, but that would mean getting a 2” OIII as well!

Great results Peter, I particularly like the dark nebulae.

I’d love to see a good structured comparison between a 3”, 4” and 5” class refractors, particularly on DSOs. I often hear comments like “a 4 inch refractor is the sweet spot” and “the jump from 3 inch to 4 inch is more noticeable than the jump from 4 to 5” (and also the opposite!). But I often wonder whether this might be due to the nature of the showpiece objects which are commonly used to compare, ie: those objects just happen to seem better at the 3 to 4 jump, and less at the 4 to 5 jump. For more challenging objects, perhaps that’s less true. Or perhaps it’s bang for the buck, or bang for the weight. I’m probably rambling now, so I’ll let us get back on topic. 🙂

Finally booked my pitch - there were quite a few pitches left but when checking satellite view I realized why; they are the ones where sky is partially obscured by trees. I chose the best one I could, but it’s not that important as my setup is very portable so I can find a good spot to observe, and tbh, it will be nice to just wander around the site sharing views and chatting with other fellow enthusiasts. 🙂

One thing potentially in favour of Haw Wood that they already do an astronomy / dark sky week for astronomers in November, so are familiar with the needs of astronomers and clearly supportive of what we do.

Well done! I’m just about to book a tent pitch at the same event, currently deciding which is the best spot. I’ve limited experience at star parties, but from what I’ve seen, blacking out is not to be underestimated - in the pitch black of the night any tiny gap of light can seem blinding and really upset people, so a test run is a good idea. On cars there’s a Christmas tree of lights every time it’s locked/unlocked or opened, so literally everything has to be covered if you need to get in or out of your car, but I guess you won’t have one of those though. Hope to see you there. 🙂

Thanks Vlaiv.

Thanks Vlaiv. I have often thought about shortening the tube, I would be prepared to do it as the scope isn’t worth much, but probably will never find the time! Could always try your solution for straight through viewing! 🙂