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Well what a relief to be out again after what has felt like weeks of cloud. Totally rubbish sketches but hey oh. (In my defence i am waiting for some new glasses to be made up). This is an observation in NE Northamptonshire in twilight (20:55 to something like 21:40 BST). I was set up quite a bit earlier but could not for the life of me find Venus in the bright blue sky on this occasion and failed on a single star align on the sun because it beat me into the tree line. TBF the sky was very pale, graduating from hazy white near the horizon to pale china blue higher up. When i have found Venus before in the daylight it has been against a clearer and truer blue sky. Seeing wasn't great - there was the odd shimmy and 'jump' in the view. Really it it barely supported the x200 i was trying to use but x125 was too small to observe well and i don't have an in-between without faffing with a powermate which i wasn't in the mood for: 1st the 'real' sketch - nothing to see except a lovely phase and brighter poles (if they're not optical artefacts). I don't think the brighter poles are illusory as they stood out in several filters. The #82A light blue filter used here was superb. Extremely naturalistic in the blue sky. This next card is not really a sketch - just an aide memoir. The right hand side view is why i bought a refractor (again)! Trying (bright) planetary again with the Cassegrain brought a satisfied smile to my face (honestly the ADC was visible in the refractor unfiltered but the horrible diffraction 'beams' and glare were not!). 🙂 The filters were not stacked BTW - but red and dark yellow behaved similarly to brighten the poles (red particularly) and dark blue and violet behaved similarly to shrink the apparent size of Venus and to a considerable degree. Neither dark blue nor violet revealed further variation in brightness. #82A was king this night.

I am a complete newbie at planetary imaging and taking "pretty pictures", though I have been doing photometry and astrometry for years. So I know the basics of imaging and filter usage. Recently I was given a OSC planetary imaging camera. The friendly manual suggested that it works best with a UVIR cut-out filter in place. One was not supplied; neither do I own one. I do, however, have a LRGB filter set which is never used. As I understand it, the L filter removes infra-red and passes the visible. Is this correct? If so, in what way does it differ from the cut-out filter? Does it not remove the UV perhaps? I could just suck it and see what happens, but an authoritative explanation would be much appreciated. Thanks, Paul

Hi. After finally getting a clear night after what feels like months off cloud cover I finally managed to take my skywatcher heritage 150p (virtuoso) scope outside again for a spot of observing. I'm a beginner and my current goal is to target some nebulae. It was a very chilly night so i focused on m42 as my first target using my svbony 7-21mm and it was beautiful to see. I was able to make out some of the nebula structure and zoom in on the Orion Trapezium Cluster. I've since been looking into getting a filter to get a clearer view of the nebula and future nebula tagets. From my googling so far it points me at purchasing a uhc filter. As there are a few options on the market I was hoping to get some opinions from anyone with a similar scope on the benefit of a uhc filter and whether the more expensive Astronomik UHC Filter (£89) would be worth getting over a Explore Scientific UHC Nebula Filter (£47) or Castell UHC Ultra High Contrast Filter (£38). These seem to be the ones which come up time and again on forums but any opinions on other filters for nebula observation for this type of scope would also be welcome and greatly appreciated. Thank you

Anyone used the Optolong 2" LRGB filters for using with a mono camera? Thought as their L series filters are so good that the LRGB set would not have any issues, they're one of the cheapest set also. There's the Baader ones but I've read about the halos they create, the newer CCD ones released this year also seem to have the same issues. Looking for recommendations.

Hi all, I'm just getting started with compiling a collection of accessories to enhance my viewing. I want to add to the collection slowly, so i get a chance to learn from each new thing and use that experience to better inform the next purchase. With that in mind, i was wondering if I'd be better served getting filters earlier or later in the process? By filters I'm sure i don't really know what I'm talking about but i see on FLO a narrowband UHC filter (unbranded) and a celestron "CLS" filter - City Light Something, or essentially a light pollution filter. Both around forty quid, which is my budget. Both sound useful for me, I'm in a red zone (urban/ suburban). I'm interested in seeing more nebula - improving the Orion nebula, i saw someone said a filter helped them see the veil nebula with similar equipment to me in similar conditions. So... any thoughts or advice? : ) i have an f/8 skywatcher dobsonian 6", with the stock 10 and 25mm eyepieces, and an 18mm BST StarGuider coming for my birthday... as well as an astro essentials moon filter and an astro essentials 2x barlow. thanks! Rob

Hello I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion that might help me My imaging set up is an RC reflector with an FLI proline 16803 camera and 50mm Astrodon filters (LRGB + 5nm narrow band) I have had a string of issues...everything from my mount had mechanical problems to my telescope had issues with the mirror cell to some family distractions...but at long last I seem to have everything working with the exception of the Astrodon Ha filter. Attached are representative 30minute subframes of the horse head and Pacman nebulae in Ha, SII, and OIII. I get similar results with different objects although for bright, broad spectrum targets like M42, I will get data from the Ha filter (much as the stars shine thru on the HH and Pacman) although even that data does not comport with other imager’s Ha images of those objects. The LRGB performance appears to be normal. My hypothesis is that this Ha filter is defective, perhaps not centered on 656.3nm I have contacted Astrodon and exchanged a couple of emails with Cary Chleborad seeking some help. At first he claimed there was no issue because with enough manipulation some data could be extracted from the Ha. Later, when confronted with the other narrowband frames and the obvious difference to the Ha, at first he ghosted me, but when I said I would ask other imagers for help, he responded with a new position stating that because of the way the filters are made and their robust quality processes, it is impossible for the filter to be defective and therefore something else must be at issue. He does not offer a suggestion of what might be the problem, nor is he interested in having me send the filter back for evaluation. Frankly, I’m more than disappointed given the premium I paid for Astrodon filters All that aside, and taking Cary’s position at face value, does anyone have an idea of what might cause this behavior other than the filter? In a perfect world, does anyone live in the Austin, Texas area who would be willing to try my filter one night and see what they get with their equipment? The attached link is to the raw, uncalibrated files right off the camera. I think a simple blink process in PixInsight will show what I’m talking about. I’m a little at my wits end, please help! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/60mvhzb717hdhnl/AACcAMkQdDsJuk1RU10PXvgja?dl=0

Hi, I would like to share with you an article written by me on high-resolution solar imaging in different wavelengths. Glad that the European Physics Journal (EPJ) Web of Conferences published it. You can read it at: https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/abs/2020/16/epjconf_seaan2020_01002/epjconf_seaan2020_01002.html You can see the different layers of the Sun in high-resolution images using different setups. Best regards. Alfred

I have been waiting for this telescope for almost five months. Since May, 19th, to be precise. The day I went to the TS Italia store and saw for the first time the SLD model, model now discontinued. I even missed the last available piece just for a few days, once I finally placed my order, June, 25th. It was to be replaced by a newer model, available at the end of the Summer. Boy, am I glad I did miss it. The wait was definitely worth it. The new and improved model is simply beautiful. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it on the Tecnosky website a few weeks ago, when they posted the product sheet. But in person, it's even more beautiful. So, the people from the store emailed me Friday, October the 2nd, telling me that it was finally available for pickup. I read the message only a whole hour later and it was soon going to be closing time. I started calling at 4:30 PM and I finally managed to get my phone call through at around 5:05 PM. The store closes at 6:00 PM and doesn't reopen until Monday. And it's 40 minutes away from where I live. I made it there in 35. There was no way I was going to have to wait till Monday, knowing my scope was only a few minutes away. So, here's the pre-unboxing picture: - top left, brown box, behind: Vixen clamp for guide-scope - top right, white box: 60mm f/4 guide-scope - top left, white boxes: T2 Nikon ring, 30mm spacer, adjustable spacer - center, behind white boxes: Optolong L-Pro 2" filter - right of filter: spacers mounted and already calibrated for 55mm backfocus, for eventual use of the ZWO ASI 224MC camera with the refractor - top right, Bahtinov mask - underneath the white boxes, top left: Losmandy bar to attach telescope to my NEQ6 Losmandy saddle - big box underneath all of the above: Tecnosky 80mm f/6 FPL-53 OWL Triplet, with carrying case and 0.8x 4 elements flattener/reducer - ZWO black case: ZWO ASI 224MC guide-camera / planetary camera - front left: Talisker 57° North and two glasses (don't mind the shape of the glasses, they are the closest to Whisky suitable glasses that I currently own...) ready for me and my wife to celebrate the end of the wait - front right: box for the aforementioned Whisky I actually waited for yesterday (Saturday, the 3rd) for the unboxing, because I wanted my best friend Omar to be present and help me with filming and taking pictures. We have been friends since we went to kindergarten and we always have had astronomy as a common interest. It just so happens, to my immense surprise, that my telescope is actually SN. 0001, so I own the first telescope ever produced of this new series. The certificate is also very promising, with a Strehl ratio of 0.974 and a Ronchi test that seems very well behaved. I like a little less the red edges on the lenses, but I guess only time and a proper visual - and astrophotographic - session will be able to tell. Obviously the "new equipment curse" didn't help, but we got almost a whole hour with clear sky patches and obviously I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I quickly setup with the bare minimum necessities for a visual observation and me, my wife and my best friend Omar - who helped with the staging, recording and directing of the unboxing event - took a quick look at the Moon, Saturn, Mars, M31 and Perseus Double Cluster. I can definitely understand now, even if the seeing wasn't perfect, and my eyepieces didn't offer enough magnification (25mm and 10mm give me 80x and 200x, with my C8, but with a native focal length of 480mm, even with a Barlow 2x, we could only achieve about 38x and 96x, respectively), what people mean when they say that an apochromatic refractor brings out the objects from the background sky. The contrast was stunning, the stars were absolute points, pinpoint, small and sharp (with my C8 they always have kind of a "blob" feeling), the contrast on the Moon was fantastic and I could see many details, despite it being almost full, and only at 48-96x. I think it passed the visual test with honors. I was also very happy to be able to see the Double Cluster all in the same field of view for the first time. Saturn was well defined, could clearly make out the rings - don't recall, in all the excitement, rush and cycling between me, my wife and my friend, if I saw the Cassini division, but I'll definitely try again next clear sky night. Mars was also beautiful, could clearly see its rusty red color, the polar cap and some darker, black features on the surface. I really can say it's a beautiful telescope, very well made and machined. The attention to details is really of another level, the paint finish is very nice and matte. Also very lovely all the different red and black anodized surfaces, they really give it a nice finish and personality. The focuser is also the best I have ever had on a telescope. Very smooth, precise, with no backlash. Coming from a C8 where every touch of the focuser throws off the image all over the place and the backlash is quite significant, I really appreciated how easy it was to fine tune focusing with a proper focuser, especially with the 10:1 focusing knob. I can't wait to be able to take the first pictures of some star field, to check if even photographically the telescope lives up to my expectations. I hope to get pinpoint stars corner to corner and that the backfocus won't be something too hard to make perfect. Here's some accessories. Optolong L-Pro 2" filter, Bahtinov mask, Losmandy dovetail to replace the Vixen one the telescope comes with, Nikon T2 ring and spacers to use the ASI 224MC with the correct backfocus directly on the telescope, instead of a guide-camera. Here's the 60mm f/4 guide-scome, with Vixen clamp. And the ZWO ASI 224MC guide-camera. Here's the mandatory celebration beer, at Corte dell'Orso (the Bear's Courtyard). It's a Belgian sour beer, lambic style. Oudbeitje by Hanssens Artisanaal, with added strawberries. A very nice beer, sour, tart and fruity. Could definitely taste the strawberries. Cheers! Here's a couple of pictures of the full setup, with everything mounted on my Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro. The setup is in its astrophotographic configuration: mount, telescope, guide-scope, guide-camera, filter, flattener/reducer and at the end the Nikon D5300 astromodified. All controlled by Astroberry on my Raspberry Pi 4 4GB, conveniently mounted on a bar across the two telescope rings. And finally a close up of the rig.

First the disclaimer. This is my first attempt to sketch Mars, or indeed any planet. Also, it started to rain and I had to abandon it with some urgency (hence no orientation marker). I used a HB pencil and a blending stump. But I think I can see a couple of features that match Ade Ashford's app. The Wratten 21 filter improved the view enormously (although you may find that hard to believe looking at the picture) helping show the surface detail and improving the seeing. I tried it the day before in my 80mm refractor, but that just made the image too dim, but on the 115mm it was very good, so I recommend it to anyone with 115mm or larger. I tried sketching the moon (Plato) several years ago, but SWMBO pronounced it (I'll paraphrase her here) more Feline Anatomical than Selenographical. While this one may look more like a two year's old attempt at drawing a rabbit, at least no one can confuse it with the rear end of the cat. So regardless of the criticism I receive here, I'll give it another go tonight (weather permitting). 🧐

Hi everyone, I am thinking about buying a Celestron Nexstar 6se to use for astrophotography at a very beginner level. I am thinking about using a ZWO ASI224MC as it seems a good option. I have a few questions about how to setup/use it - here they are: 1.) Do you just screw it on where the eyepiece is usually at? 2.) Do you just have the cable going to a computer where you have stacking spect where that stacks the photos it takes? 3.) Does it automatically take photos of planets and DSO’s? 4.) Does it need any filters to get color on nebulae as those are they primary things I want to photograph Thats all, as you can see I am a beginner to astrophotography and just want to know how to use the camera to take decent pictures. Thanks all

Hello all. Thank you for taking a moment to read this & offer your suggestions/ advice. I'm sure my basic question has been asked many times: "In your opinion or experience, what are the first, most important, necessary accessories I should add in order to maximize the the use and ease of a newly acquired Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT ? I have a power supply adapter, 9mm,10mm, 25mm eyepieces, 2x Barlow and 90 degree diagonal mirror adaptor. With a modest budget and a 2 week deadline, I've researched numerous reviews and narrowed some choices to additional Plossl eyepieces, an assortment of filters or a dew shield. All of and these can probably be purchased within my budget but I'm even willing to take the plunge on an upgrade to a better mount, which I have no idea where to start. Any and all suggestions, advice and opinions are gladly appreciated. Thank you all, from across the pond in northeastern US.

Hi, I'm a beginner and I want to buy something for my telescope. I have a Bresser 6 inch Newtonian(750mm focal length) I have 2 lenses, 9mm, 25mm, a moon filter and a 2x barlow. What would be the next thing to get? I was thinking maybe a solar filter, a light pollution filter since i am stuck at home, idk. What are your thoughts on this?

So...a question...let's say you want to shoot in a slightly light polluted area...but you also want to use the IR/UV cut filter...how can you use both then? You can only apply one filter at a time...so are is this a sort of 'pick your poison'? So you can't have IR/UV filtered along with Light pollution as well? For example here: https://expertphotography.com/best-astrophotography-filters/ There's a ton of great filters...but how is it possible if you need a light pollution filter because of the area you're in..but you also want to cut IR/UV ? It seems like you can only do one at a time. Thanks all..

Although I've had my scope for a couple of years it hasn't had much use and I'm pretty much still inexperienced. The other night I was looking at M13 which pretty much matches everyone's description of a fuzzy ball. I couldn't really say that I could start to resolve any of the stars, maximum magnication was x100. Would a Ultra High Contrast Filter help? If so any recommendation please. TIA. Ed

Hi, I recently spent my Xmas money on an L-Enhance filter as I have seen amazing results with this filter. I took it for a test run on the Y Cas Nebula last night (not the best night, but when is?) I managed to get around 43 mins of time. I normally shoot 1 min exposures with my 1000D modified camera but I thought I'd go for 90 seconds as the filter would reduce brightness? (any thoughts on exposure times here would be great) The results were not as great as I was hoping for - see below. O over stretched it just to see if I had captured the 'ghost'. He's there, but it turns out really grainy and not the nice subtle wispy nebula that I see from other folks. So my questions are: - is this a tricky nebula target? - What exposure times should I run? - Is 43 mins way too little for this (or any) target? - any other advice??? Setup is: Canon 1000D - modified L-Enhance filter Skywatcher 72ED Telescope Skywatcher AzGTI mount (AZ mode at the moment until I can get polar alignment working with SharpCap) Any thoughts, hints, tips greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hi! So Ive found some pictures from an arxiv report in a database which I need for my project and converted them to fits files (The picture on the left). The one that was used in the arxiv report (picture on right) is a zoomed in picture of a galaxy in that picture, where its clearly visible. However when I try zooming in on the exakt coordinates of the galaxy in the fits image, its just plain black. I want the picture "raw", that's why I saved it as fits and not their pdf picture from report. Someone suggested first stretching the image for a more detailed image but some filters had to be used though... the only thing I can find on the tables of the images is that filter F160W was used. I have no idea how to move forward now, completely stuck. Would appreciate some help!

Hello everyone, I'm looking to buy some NB filters and wanna make the best decision. 1. Does the size of the filter impacts the quality of the image? (is it a big impact?) 2. I know that lower HBW is best, but... for example: does the difference between 35nm and 7nm is worth the price? 3.Can you recommend some H-alpha, OIII, SII? Thank you in advance! Cheers, Vlad

Looking at getting a light pollution filter, for my camera as I'm in a bortle 5 area and not currently using any filters. I've been looking around and the clip in filters are way out of budget, for now, so I've been looking at the Hoya filters and the red intensity filters. Then I saw these from Globe (Link Below), and thought maybe it's too good to be true? All those filters for the price of one Hoya? Has anyone used these before what do you think? https://mygobe.com/uk/52mm-collection-filter-kit-1peak.html?fbclid=IwAR3Uqu_TDPx-uxun3SGnDl8CqFQ-8kGgooW62Ux3gSNJ9PitQJj1RQn3_NY

Hi everyone ? I'm looking to take my first steps in buying more equipment than what came with my Skywatcher 200P, which was 25mm and 10mm lenses. I enjoy looking at planets, nebulae and managed to get my first look at Andromeda the other night which was amazing. Are there any filters or lenses (or anything else) less than £100 that I should consider buying to improve my viewing? Looking at the range of things available is a bit overwhelming. Thanks!

Hello, I have a question about filterwheels; SBIG filter wheels specifically. As far as I know they are the only ones that really use the 8 position filter wheels. So I have it loaded with L, R, G, B, Ha, OIII, and SII. So that is seven filters, what goes in the 8th slot??? Thank you for your insight, Christopher

Reading the forums, it seems certain filter types are best suited to certain DSOs, in particular different nebulae. If OIII filters are good for most nebulae, which nebulae benefit more from other types? If UHC filters help with contrast for galaxies & fainter DSOs, are there certain suffixed types better than others. Hydrogen Alpha, Beta & various other filters, get mentioned. What are those for?

Hi, when I get my 130p I would like to do some solar viewing after seeing many posts on the forum looks quite interesting. I would like to know what’s the best type of filter there is to use. Also do I need any filters for the eyepiece it self? And do I need to buy anything to keep my scope and myself safe? For example a cover to put on over the scope to keep it from heating ? I was looking at this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/astrozap-baader-solar-filter.html sky and telescope done a article and mentioned the Baader to be the best one is this the one they are talking about? ( apologies if this has already been mentioned and if it has please link the thread) Sorry if these seem obvious answers but want to make sure and be as safe as possible