A WOW moment.

[oldfruit]

Tonight i have managed to acheive something that i have wanted to do for a long time. I have always read about the Veil Nebula but as much as i have tried to see it over the years i had never managed to find it. Earlier this year i was lucky enough to purchase a Baader O111 filter but due to work commitments etc found it hard to get out observing. Tonight however it was dark nice and early and i had put the scope out beforehand to cool. I put the O111 filter in my 32mm eyepiece and lined up the finder scope on the star that looks like it is part of the "Witches Broom" and looked through the scope and all i can say is WOW!! I find it hard to beleive that a filter can make so much difference. To see the fine filaments of the nebula was amazing, i even took the filter out and it was as though the nebula had vanished. Put the filter back in again and there it was! Hard to beleive that somethind seemingly so obvious can prove so hard to observe. Unfortunately there is a lot of cloud around tonight so i will have to return to the Veil to find the other parts some other time. But still what a beautiful sight.

[Stargazer51N]

Great to hear that your Baader O111 filter has made a big difference, I'm thinking of buying one of these myself. What are your skies like, much light pollution? Have you tried it on any other targets?

[oldfruit]

Hi Stargazer 51N. I live on the edge of town but i am able to make out the Milky way from my back yard so my skies are not too bad. I have tried the filter on M57 and M27 and it does greatly improve contrast. I have yet to try the filter on other targets yet but hope to do so soon.

[Stargazer51N]

Hi oldfruit. I have a fair amount of LP and am unable to see the milky way. Following your post I've had a good trawl round SGL and come to the conclusion that I probably don't have the aperture or sky conditions to use an OIII. I have got a Lumicon UHC and haven't used it much. Your post has spurred me on to see what I can get out of my existing kit.

Thanks for the feedback, regards.

[space3]

interesting, if it makes such a difference I may get one,

[Moonshane]

the Veil is superb, especially when viewed for the first time. @ Stargazer51N -

don't believe the 'hype' about Oiii filters and aperture. I can see the whole of the veil in light polluted skies with my 90mm f5.5 refractor and a Castell Oiii filter. aperture or very dark skies is needed for detailed views but they are doable with smaller scopes. they key with such filters is exit pupil as they all have their optimum for use.

this is an interesting thread just found with a quick search Telescope Reviews: Veil in one field

[swamp thing]

interesting, if it makes such a difference I may get one,

It sure does. It's worth it's money for the veil nebula on it's own.

[Andrew]

Sounds like a great night Oldfruit. I had a very similar experience a while back. Finally found the veil with the aid of an OIII after many failed attempts without one.

I still haven't managed to see the North American Nebula with either OIII or UHC but that maybe because I only have 1.25" filters and my scope fov is too small with my 1.25" eps.

[Stargazer51N]

the Veil is superb, especially when viewed for the first time. @ Stargazer51N -

don't believe the 'hype' about Oiii filters and aperture. I can see the whole of the veil in light polluted skies with my 90mm f5.5 refractor and a Castell Oiii filter. aperture or very dark skies is needed for detailed views but they are doable with smaller scopes. they key with such filters is exit pupil as they all have their optimum for use.

this is an interesting thread just found with a quick search Telescope Reviews: Veil in one field

Thanks for the info moonshane. I've read the link you posted and it was very interesting. The Castell filters are very reasonably priced so I'll probably get one and have a go.