OIII first light washout

[MattJenko]

I had a chance to try out my new filter after the storm passed today, but I managed to see a grand total of nothing through it, apart from some green stars and a very dimmed field. I am hoping this is purely down to the rather large full moon dominating the skies tonight. I will try again at a less lunar time. 

[John]

Any night with a bright moon in the sky is more or less a washout for deep sky objects. The filter will subtly enhance the contrast of planetary nebulae and super novae remnants and some other nebulae types but it can't work miracles !

Wait for a dark night and try it again on the Veil Nebula in Cygnus - an O-III makes a really significant difference on that one.

[cotterless45]

Not only a bright Moon, but a super Moon !

Nick.

[Daniel-K]

Hey matt what brand of OIII did you get

[NGC404]

The 0III is not for looking at stars

Try the veil as suggested by John, or some Planetary nebula and you wont be disappointed

When it is visible, I found it works great on the Eskimo Nebula   

[MattJenko]

It is a simple SkyWatcher OIII filter which I picked up to help me actually see some nebula and emission objects which to date have eluded my without a filter and my 10''. The moon was pretty awesome last night though. My eyes are still hurting from looking at it, even with a moon filter in + barlow to dim it further. I didn't have to use a torch all evening, shadows everywhere.

My ongoing battle with flattener distances took a giant step forward though with an M31 washout image, although I am seeing tracking issues with my stars now. All good entertaining stuff.

[MattJenko]

s/my/me/g

must proof read more

[MattJenko]

and I must also rethink my string substitution commands...

[swamp thing]

Hi Matt

More of a bad choice of nights to observe nebulae than a bad choice of filter buddy. I've used the Skywatcher O-III in a 16" Dob from a good dark sky. It works fine. I compared it to my far more expensive Lumicon one. Yes the Lumicon is bette but the Skywatcher version is perfectly adequate and works well enough.

Get a good dark spot sorted and your 10" will be pulling in plenty of targets with it

[Moonshane]

The moon reflects all wavelengths of light so logically this will include those emitted by emission nebulae etc. To my mind this explains why the moon affects the usability of even narrowband filters. Worry not it will be fine in darker skies

[LukeSkywatcher]

It is a simple SkyWatcher OIII filter which I picked up to help me actually see some nebula and emission objects which to date have eluded my without a filter and my 10''. The moon was pretty awesome last night though. My eyes are still hurting from looking at it, even with a moon filter in + barlow to dim it further. I didn't have to use a torch all evening, shadows everywhere.

My ongoing battle with flattener distances took a giant step forward though with an M31 washout image, although I am seeing tracking issues with my stars now. All good entertaining stuff.

I have the same one and also the UHC filter. They do work, and work well. They only work when observing the correct objects. 

[MattJenko]

They only work when observing the correct objects. 

Is there a repository where this kind of information is held? I was going to experiment and try it out on various nebulas and see for myself, which is kind of half the fun, but wondered if there was a consolidated database of this kind of info.

[John]

Is there a repository where this kind of information is held? I was going to experiment and try it out on various nebulas and see for myself, which is kind of half the fun, but wondered if there was a consolidated database of this kind of info.

This link is to an article which discusses the effects of various filter types on different categories of object. It does not cover your specific filter but it does cover O-III filters generally compared with other types:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

[ollypenrice]

O111 is not at all moon proof for imaging. Ha is the one for that, though you will still get a noisier image. Anything needing O111 in visual needs a dark sky.

Olly