Advice for accesories

[Diegope]

Hello. I just bought a Skywatcher heritage 130p scope. So far, I've obtained very clear and detailed views of the moon with both EPs (25mm and 10mm).

Unfortunely, after two nights of skygazing I have discovered that sky conditions from my home are extremely bad. I can can barely see 3.5 mag stars on naked eye. Obviously, I'm going to search for dark skies outdoors but I would like to improve as much as possible the viewing from my house.

I would appreciate all advice on any kind of equipment (filters, eyepieces, etc.) and tips (making a light shroud for my scope, etc.) 

Thank you very much.

[bomberbaz]

Hello Diegope and welcome to sgl. First thing most people will say as you have identified is there is no substitution for dark skies.

Now a light shroud on the end of the scope made out of a piece of camping mat or similar will be a great help and also acts as a dew shield. You should be able to find some guides on here if you do a search.

You dont say what the main cause of lp is and wether it is localised or the result of being in a large town or city. A light polution filter may help cut through some of the murk if the orange type street lights are a major cause but if its more broadband light from other sources results may be more limited.

I have heavy lp to deal with and make use of nbarrowband filters fir viewing some objects. With your size of scope a uhc filter should help on things such as M57 ring nebula and M27 dumbell nebula.

I am sure some others may have other suggestions but the above are some of the usual ones.

Hope this helps

Steve

[ronin]

Although there are light pollution filters you need to know what the nature is of your light pollution.

If it is from the "old" yellow sodium lights then you can get filters that block these wavelengths - fortunately they are well defined.

If it in effect white light from other sources then there is not really a lot that can be done. You cannot remove all the wavelengths without removing the object being viewed.

You might find that something like an OIII filter helps on some objects - not all - they "improve" things by allowing through specific wavelengths from a nebula while blocking the majority of others. You may therefore get better contrast but you will still have removed something some the object's light as well.

Where light pollution, observing and filters are concerned it can be a fair bit of trial and error. Especially as Galaxies, nebula, ckuster will respond differently.

Is there a club near to you that you could visit, just thinking that people in your area may have a better idea of what works adn they let you try a filter or two out so you can decide waht you think of each.

[Diegope]

I live in a small town. In the first floor of my house I have a terrace that faces north east ( at about 10pm I've got cassiopea right in front of me). LP are street lights of my town and also of an industrial area about a mile from my house.

In the third floor there's another terrace which faces south and gives me a better view of the sky. LP here are the street lights of the town, of several cities in the coast and also from a petrol industry about 5 miles from here (seems like Las Vegas).

Thank you. 

[Diegope]

Sorry, i forgot to mention that the street lights of my town have an orange tone. Thanks.

[bomberbaz]

Sorry, i forgot to mention that the street lights of my town have an orange tone. Thanks.

I would give it a go with a LP filter along these lines then. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/light-pollution-reduction/skywatcher-light-pollution-filter.html  It sounds as though this would offer you some help with viewing. Again though nothing beats dark skies and this will probably only give limited improvement to results. The industrial area you mentioned might also be a more white type light if my suspicions are right and so, depending on how much this affects your view results would be limited.

With your aperture I would probbly leave the O-III filter for now as it may spoil the view as much as help it due to the relatively small aperture along with its narrowband of light transmission. Whereas a UHC is a more broadband filter and allows more light through from a greater spectrum so would possibly be more suited to the scope. Cant remember where I read it but it referred to scopes of less than 150mm aperture being more suited to UHC, not to say that O-III wont work but that the results may not be as p[leasing. No offence to your suggestion Ronin. 

hope this helps.

steve