Whats the best overall filter for observing?

[nmoushon]

After doing AP for several years I have made the switch to observing full time. I have been enjoying getting use to the change and seeing everything I imaged the past show up in the EP. But now that I have gone through the winter and we are not heading into galaxy season the number of objects that are bright enough to pass through my horrid LP as slimming very fast. I was looking at getting a filter to help cut the LP but noticed there are A LOT of different filters for observing and not sure which is best. 

 

My budget only allows for me to buy 1 filter so I know that some filter will allow for better viewing of certain objects more than others but I will just have to compromise. I'm not picky on brands and that it has to be the best quality or for certain wavelengths. I'm just looking for a good over all filter that will help be cut through my LP. 

Any suggestions and experiences are greatly welcomed. Thanks.

 

Edit: Oh and to note my current scope I'm using the most for observing is my 9.25"HD with a .63x reducer and 2" EPs not sure if that makes any difference but might as well make it known.

[Stu]

I would probably suggest two options:

Baader Neodymium filter. Good general purpose LP and moon filter, good results on Jupiter and Mars

UHC filter. Good for emission nebulae such as M42, M57, M27 etc

The UHC will probably show the more significant results on the targets it is good on, but obviously is no good on galaxies, planets or the moon.

[vlaiv]

If only one, I would go for UHC, don't know if any filter will make significant difference on galaxies

[Stu]

49 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

If only one, I would go for UHC, don't know if any filter will make significant difference on galaxies

No, they don't. Only dark skies really help

[LukeSkywatcher]

The best filter for galaxies is dark skies. For Nebulae......you would get more use out of a UHC rather than an oiii.

[Highburymark]

I just bought an astronomik UHC - must say I was blown away by the views of M42 from the middle of London. other filters I've tried over the years have been disappointing, but I'd recommend this without hesitation.

 

 

C6 Evolution. Equinox 80ED. Lunt LS50DS. ETX105.

Zooms: Leica ASPH. TV Nagler 3-6. Pentax XF for solar.   

TV Delos 6, 17.3. Ethos 13. Panoptic 24, 35. 

Baader VIP barlow. WO diagonals, binoviewer.

[laudropb]

The UHC is probably the best choice. LP filters only really have a noticeable effect against orange Sodium lighting.

[John]

For a few years I found a 2" Astronomik O-III filter all that I needed for nebulae. It seemed to work very well even in my 4" and 4.7" aperture scopes as well as my 12" dob. I've now got a Lumicon O-III and an Omega DGM NBP which seem to be a great complimentary pair.

 

[Mak the Night]

I have the Baader Neodymium and UHC-S filters. As far as I can tell the Baader UHC-S is supposedly a multi-purpose cross between a UHC and a CLS filter. 

filter_uebersicht_en.pdf

[niallk]

Hi,

I bought an O-III first, was so impressed, that in time I picked up a UHC plus a cheapo filter wheel for my 250px, which makes it a pleasure to flick between none and up to 4 filters (I also have a neutral density - moon - and a green filter - never use my coloured filters).

The following link is very good:

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

[Don Pensack]

You've gotten some good advice.

Obviously, for anything with a full spectrum (galaxies, stars), the best "filter" is to have dark skies (i.e. drive your scope to darker skies).

But for nebulae, a filter than passes the O-III lines (493nm, 496nm, 501nm) and H-Beta line (486nm) in the spectrum and very little else will enhance the view well without your having

to know the emission wavelengths of a particular nebula.  Such a filter is known as a narrowband filter.

Narrowband filters seem to vary from about 23nm to 50nm bandwidths, with the best nebula enhancement coming from the narrow end of that range (e.g. DGM NPB, Lumicon UHC, Thousand Oaks LP-2, Orion Ultrablock),

but if your budget is more limited, the wider end of that range does appear to be less expensive (e.g. Explore Scientific UHC, Optolong UHC, StarGuy UHC, Astronomik UHC).

If you have only one nebula filter, the narrowband is the one to get.

[chrisormerod]

thanks to the op for asking this question never really understood filters probably being a newbie but the responses are great thank you.

[Dave In Vermont]

You might also take a look at these from Orion-USA - their Skyglow Filter. These act to reduce the LP, while not dimming the view like UHC-Filters do:

http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Telescope-Eyepiece-Filters/Orion-SkyGlow-Broadband-Light-Pollution-Filters/pc/-1/c/3/sc/48/e/3.uts

You can also, while your're in Orion, take a look at their Narrowband Filter. This is a UHC-Filter, and many think a very good one. And here's a good read on using filters on different deep-sky objects. Written by David Knisely of the Prairie Astronomy Club, it's an excellent article:

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

Have fun -

Dave

[Stu]

6 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

You might also take a look at these from Orion-USA - their Skyglow Filter. These act to reduce the LP, while not dimming the view like UHC-Filters do:

http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Telescope-Eyepiece-Filters/Orion-SkyGlow-Broadband-Light-Pollution-Filters/pc/-1/c/3/sc/48/e/3.uts

You can also, while your're in Orion, take a look at their Narrowband Filter. This is a UHC-Filter, and many think a very good one. And here's a good read on using filters on different deep-sky objects. Written by David Knisely of the Prairie Astronomy Club, it's an excellent article:

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

Have fun -

Dave

One problem with the Skyglow filter is that the streetlights on the UK are being replaced with white light LED rather than the yellow sodium/Mercury vapour ones which it targets. I used to have one and it was effective, but sold it a while ago. These days I think the narrowband filters are more effective on nebulae.

[Dave In Vermont]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

One problem with the Skyglow filter is that the streetlights on the UK are being replaced with white light LED rather than the yellow sodium/Mercury vapour ones which it targets. I used to have one and it was effective, but sold it a while ago. These days I think the narrowband filters are more effective on nebulae.

No filter can block a LED light. They emit every part of the spectrum. For these lights, which are destined to be everywhere due to costing about 1/10th the cost of others than can be filtered - Mercury & Sodium-vapor lights - you need to approach your town/city government and request they be shielded to only direct their light downwards.

It's not just crazy astro-people behind this. It's medical doctors and environmental scientists too. Further information on this subject - and help approaching your city-council - can be found from the IDAS:

http://darksky.org/

Go for it! YOU can make a difference.

Dave

[Stu]

6 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

No filter can block a LED light. They emit every part of the spectrum.

I know! That was my point ??

[bomberbaz]

On 1 March 2016 at 03:09, Mak the Night said:

I have the Baader Neodymium and UHC-S filters. As far as I can tell the Baader UHC-S is supposedly a multi-purpose cross between a UHC and a CLS filter. 

filter_uebersicht_en.pdf

The uhc-s is a great little fikter and i find it works great on jupiter too. It really helps lift out the banding and grs. I think it is very close to the televue planetary fikter and consderably less in cost. I compared the stated bandwidth once and there seemed to be little difference. So if you wanted a bit of an all rounder for planets and nebula, this would be my suggestion. 

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

The uhc-s is a great little fikter and i find it works great on jupiter too. It really helps lift out the banding and grs. I think it is very close to the televue planetary fikter and consderably less in cost. I compared the stated bandwidth once and there seemed to be little difference. So if you wanted a bit of an all rounder for planets and nebula, this would be my suggestion. 

I may try it on Jupiter when I get my bigger scope. At the moment I tend to use it for observing M42 with a 40mm Plossl as I get a 3.1mm exit pupil with a 40mm EP. I am thinking of getting a TeleVue Bandmate as well, although, again, many claim that's similar to the Baader Neodymium but better. There's one thing that I can say for sure; filter specifications are really confusing lol. I honestly think Baader tried to combine a ultra high contrast filter with a city light suppression filter with the UHC-S. It also isn't a particularly aggressive filter, so good for smaller apertures. Furthermore, many have doubted its efficacy as a purely UHC filter compared to some other makes. Either way, I've had some pretty good results observing the Orion Nebula with it and I think it will be useful in the future.

[bomberbaz]

19 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

I may try it on Jupiter when I get my bigger scope. At the moment I tend to use it for observing M42 with a 40mm Plossl as I get a 3.1mm exit pupil with a 40mm EP. I am thinking of getting a TeleVue Bandmate as well, although, again, many claim that's similar to the Baader Neodymium but better. There's one thing that I can say for sure; filter specifications are really confusing lol. I honestly think Baader tried to combine a ultra high contrast filter with a city light suppression filter with the UHC-S. It also isn't a particularly aggressive filter, so good for smaller apertures. Furthermore, many have doubted its efficacy as a purely UHC filter compared to some other makes. Either way, I've had some pretty good results observing the Orion Nebula with it and I think it will be useful in the future.

Here are two pictures of the garage wall and car rear. Note how the colour of the brown brick and red in car rear lights actually stand out more when the filter is used. Its only an iphone picture out of the window but I think you get the idea.

[Mak the Night]

24 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Here are two pictures of the garage wall and car rear. Note how the colour of the brown brick and red in car rear lights actually stand out more when the filter is used. Its only an iphone picture out of the window but I think you get the idea.

Right, that settles it then, I'm definitely using it for the GRS when I get my bigger SCT! lol

[John]

See also though that the more subtle contrast features are subdued when the filter is used. Jupiter is all about contrast features.

 

[bomberbaz]

I wish one of the more subtle features it subdued was the front gate hanging of it's hinges, good job swmbo doesn't see this picture or she would be mortified 

I know what you mean though John and I do not use it all the time, just like I do not always use a coloured filter. I just like to mix things up and change the view of what I am seeing sometimes, I am something of a tinkerer. 

[Mak the Night]

I suppose it could always be stacked with the neodymium filter, or would that be too crazy lol?

[bomberbaz]

39 minutes ago, Mak the Night said:

I suppose it could always be stacked with the neodymium filter, or would that be too crazy lol?

Try different things Mak, one thing to think about here is that picture above is of a variety of dark and bright contrasting objects at low magnification through an iphone. Jupiter at x150 for example can be quite a bright object so the effects in the picture will not be mirrored at the eyepiece. 

[Mak the Night]

23 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Try different things Mak, one thing to think about here is that picture above is of a variety of dark and bright contrasting objects at low magnification through an iphone. Jupiter at x150 for example can be quite a bright object so the effects in the picture will not be mirrored at the eyepiece. 

Yes, it always pays to experiment. I've recently discovered, after some experimentation, that the Baader Neodymium filter is very good for contrast (on Jupiter & the Moon), especially combined with orthoscopic eyepieces.