How to tell what I am looking at?

[Manok101]

So I had a first peep through my broadband filter last night, and I could see extra stuff I'm not used to seeing, though I couldn't tell what things were since this filter colors everything a nice green hue. I usually look for nebula or galaxies by a faint almost not there cloudiness. Do galaxies actually start to look more than a nebulous "something" in these? I'm not expecting to see stars or anything, but I was hoping to improve my chances of seeing more detail without the light light pollution I get around here.

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[John]

The filter won't make any difference to galaxies and star clusters. It will make nebulae have a bit more contrast though. They make more difference on some nebulae than others so try it and see. These filters don't work miracles though so expect the differences to be quite subtle. A narrowband filter such as a UHC or O-III makes a bit more difference than a broadband filter but still only on nebula really.