jetstream

Yes, but the new Astronomik is much tighter as are their new OIII- they are not the same filters bandwidth wise. Look at the old Lumicon bandwith and transmission- this is what youre looking for. The new Astronomik and Televue Bandmate II are the best of the best now. These 2 brands are the only ones I would buy currently. BTW, when Lumicon transitioned to new owners I purchased a 2" Hb... it resides in the same place as the UltraBlock... I dont know how Lumicon is today, but Ive spent enough cash on the filters to know that a sure thing is needed.

https://www.astroamateur.de/filter/uhc.html

vs the old, top lumicon

Sorry that was the OIII, heres the Badder UHC tests- its wide

It only passes one spectral line in OIII. Some of dob mob had one. From Reiner Vogel "a 2" OIII by Baader, which is in particular with fainter OIII objects clearly inferior to the Lumicon OIII and considerably cuts the fainter of the OIII lines at 496nm." I''ll try to find the tests, its been a while

Heres the difference

No, I'm not aware of this one- I havn' checked the filters out for a bit. I think Televues spec cut off the high end there though. Not sure if this matters- my old Lumicon is superb with out this and my new Televue is also superb,if I had to pick though it would be the Televue, but we are splitting extremely small hairs.

I have numerous top filters now, including an older but great Lumicon UHC and also the NEW Televue Nebustar. Forget about Lumicon now. Buy the latest Astronomik tight UHC or the Televue (made by Astronomik). Seriously, a bunch of us went through piles of test results, specs etc and now these are the 2 top choices IMHO. Same goes for 0III. The older Astronomiks were good but a bit wide- I have one of those too- but they tightened up the newest ones and are excellent.

Need around 5mm IMHO, plus or minus a bit

@billy86 pay attention to what this dude says @dweller25 in posts 👍

I dont mean to be rude here. I had an Orion Ultrablock years ago and had the same experience. It tainted my view of filters to the point that I thought all UHC types dont work very well. I was new at astronomy then. I bought a top quality (tight, high transmission) UHC and the difference was staggering. I threw my Orion Ultrablock in the garbage and didnt look back. Gerry

There are a lot of features Mars will show when things are right including light cloud. The H130 does a vg job on Mars and will show nice detail. Cooling, collimation must be done and seeing is the next key factor.One thing- the f5 shows a very bright image with a lot of eyepieces. Getting the mag way up there-requiring vg seeing- will help tame down the image brightness. @Stu being a seasoned and excellent observer is doing this with his f7.5(?) 100mm . At 250x mag hes using a 3mm eyepiece, giving a .4mm exit pupil. Not only does this enlarge the image but the low exit pupil tones down the image brightness, enhancing contrast. Stu I assumed f7.5 for this. @PeterStudz is doing the same thing at f6 . Hes around .5mm exit pupil. 1200/75=3.2mm EP 3.2/6=.53 exit pupil. This is an important consideration not only for maximizing your existing set up, but future scope choices for planetary. In my mind this factor is why many say long focal length scopes get the "planetary" designation, as you can potentially control image brightness at lower, more useable mags. To the OP @billy86 cool and collimate this scope accurately and then when seeing is vg crank up the mag with a good 3mm-4mm eyepiece. This should tame down Mars brightness and give very nice shading features and much more. I use a 3-6 Nagler zoom, but there are nice less expensive choices out there and I'll even use short orthos with this scope. Keep eyepiece weight below about 12oz on the H130. Youll be amazed at what this scope will do on Mars under good conditions. Gerry

lol there is room for at least 20 large dobs here - bring er over!

You are more than welcome to deal with my frequent visitors

Yes but they are still sleeping. Neek chase one of these away last month right where I observe. That wolf was huge - a speed square layed next to it showed a 5" diameter print... I saw it and it dwarfed this one in the picture that was in front of the house.

The Hb is the preferred filter, but they are fussy on exit pupil and go a bit too low and forget it. A 30mm widefield in your f6 dob will show it easily with your 8" dob. I have a superb 1.25" old Astronomik Hb that is amazing. For my post however, I wanted to illustrate the absolute need for dark skies and the needed eyepiece (range). Many beginners dont have Hb's but do have UHC so thats what I commented on. In reality, when everything is right no filter is needed at the mentioned spot near M78. Having M78 right next to the brightest portion of the Loop is a gift from the heavens above.

Actually yes- another way to build them is 2" top ring, spray foamed and then clad with another sheet of aluminum, no wood completely maintenance free. But heavier. I wrapped mine in a concrete tarp, and from 105 deg at night it remained 90 deg in the morning- in -20ish. A guy does it 60 km away but I have to wait- long- to get it done as not many foam jobs up here, deadly expensive. Making them this way is on my list.

Me I'm the concrete pad, forming dude- I get the pad all ready , packed and re barred. Old Ger is getting a bit long in the tooth for this

Volunteers to go get the wood for the hot tub

Sure, we are building a cabin this summer, volunteers needed lol. Actually my bro in law- a contractor is so fast and good we just stay out of his (and crews) way lol If he has time it might happen late summer, fingers crossed.

I think up near my sisters cabin in Wasaga there are dark skies available too. Your TSA102 will chew up Barnards Loop- if you have the right eyepiece. I use a 42mm Vixen LVW in my f7-7.5 fracs to see it, Pleaides Bubble too etc.

Nor my sisters place in Mississauga , but there must be pockets of darkness near you.The SQM-L is valuable for finding these pockets between light domes.

Thanks Stu, I just thought I'd write down some sure fire ways to see some things and with any scope really. Its the principles involved that I hope to relate to newcomers and as we know most any scope can see these things if they are followed. Yes 21mag is a crossover point IMHO but Ive observed the Flame in a bit brighter skies, high 19's back when I was researching things a bit. Your 16" will be excellent on the Flame.

My tub has been through hell and was enlisted to hold the neighbours dock down during the summers flood. You can flip it up and roll it like a wheel, up stairs, down stairs, through the trees etc. The wood is just cladding. It is my new naked eye observatory