hydrogen beta filters for visual

[crashtestdummy]

Are these much use for visual viewing or are they more geared towards photgraphic?

[DirkSteele]

They are very specialist when it comes to visual. I purchased mine to view just a view objects visually, including the Horse Head and the California Nebula. Also a decent aperture is needed as they really do cut down the amount of light through put.

[John]

As Matthew says

I'd like one to have a crack at the Horsehead this winter. Tough, tough challenge though, even with the right filter

[Damo636]

The H-Beta filter is sometimes called the Horsehead filter as its one of only a few objects its useful for. I also intend having a go at the Nags head this time around. It was too late in the season when I got my 12" scope earlier in the year. I don't own a H-Beta though and reluctant to spend money on such a specialised, and expensive filter.

[crashtestdummy]

Orion are doing one for £45 hence why i asked as i wouldnt pay £hundreds for something to use on a few targets.my 12" dob be man enough?

Repeat post-can a mod delete this

[John]

Duplicate post deleted

.......my 12" dob be man enough?........

In theory, yes. I say in theory because I've read of folks who have seen it with a smaller aperture and those who have not with much larger scopes !

I think it's one of those objects when everything has to come together at the right time.

[DirkSteele]

As John said, 12" may well be enough. I have managed with my 11" SCT, from a dark site which also had very good transparency.

[ollypenrice]

Have a read of this, regarding the Hosehead. The author suggests that filters have an optimal exit pupil which should be respected. http://home.ix.netcom.com/~bwilson2/barbarasweb/MEyepiece.htm

I've 'seen' the Horse twice in our twenty inch but it was a bit of a leap of faith. A kind of dark chunk out of what might have (kind of) been a bit of nebulosity. Sort of.

Given the inconsistency of peoples' experiences in various apertures I think the above author's point about exit pupil might well be valid. I think I found the H beta a tad better than the UHC whien I tried but there was a two year gap between the observations. The younger observers saw it with more confidence than I did.

Olly

[alan potts]

Is it visible without a filter as I don't really want to pay out for something only to look at what is sounding like a bit of a let down in anything other than massive aperture. Olly didn't give it much of a thumbs up in his 20 inch, few of us have bigger.

Alan.

[John]

It seems to be "marginal" even with a filter that has the optimum band pass width for it Alan so my guess is that spotting it without a filter of any sort is going to prove fiendishly difficult. I have heard of a decent UHC filter doing the job in place of the H-Beta though.

The point about exit pupil is interesting. I have heard before that there are optimum exit pupils for UHC and O-III filters so it's entirely credible that something similar applies to the H-Beta variety of narrowband filter.

[crashtestdummy]

Will we get to a point where opticians issue us a perscription for our filters?