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DSO's For My Filter?


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I have finally gotten through my second round of acquiring equipment to get myself where I'd like to be viewing-wise.  At current time I am just viewing and sketching, no photography.  I have a new 2" dielectric diagonal for use with my Celestron 8SE.  I have 3 new EPs, all are Explore Scientific 82*, I got the 30mm, 18mm and 4.7mm.  I have come to realize the 4.7mm may be a bit much zoom for my scope, but that's okay.  I love these EPs and will see if I can't find occasion to use it.  Anyway, I also got myself a DGM Optics 2" Nebula Filter.  I've only been out once with it on a night when I had some other technical difficulties and ended up not getting to mess around with it as much as I would have liked.  In the little bit of experimenting I did with it, I didn't have any luck seeing any of the nebulas I looked for.  I was under dark skies and viewing conditions were good.  I looked for the North America nebula and a couple others I can't remember.

I have now been waiting for the skies to clear, and when I go back out I hope to get to see some things that are better through the filter.  Does anybody have any suggestions for DSO's that would be good targets with my specific filter?

As a follow up question, I've been looking into the possibility of getting an OIII filter, but finding that they are quite expensive.  Are there significant benefits in having an OIII filter if I am not taking photos?  

 

Thanks everyone and hope you folks across the pond are finally getting some clear skies!  I have been hearing a lot of talk of cloudy nights lately!

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David Knisely is the most prolific go-to guy for knowledge about DSO's and what filter-type works best - in his view. And that's one of his best articles that's linked above. If you would like to have a copy of this article to consult without going on line - here's a Pdf. of that article. I also suggest you do a Google-type search for more of his works. Here you go with the aforementioned Pdf:

Filter Performance Comparisons For Some Common Nebulae - by Dave Knisely.pdf

My advice is that as everyone's vision works differently, even in family members, is to experiment. Never has the expression "Your mileage may vary." been more suitable.

Best Wishes,

Dave

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Thanks Dave!  I read a portion of the article, and it does seem like if I am going to spring for another filter, it will likely be an OIII, although it seems the UHC was certainly a good one to start with (I got that bit of advice from all of you folks!).  I am going to make a list using the article linked above and see if I can't expand my nebula horizons!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I have been thinking more about the possibility of getting a OIII filter.  I read on another thread that @John prefers the Astronomik brand when it comes to these filters.  I have been looking at a couple, and I realized that they come in 12nm and 6nm.  What is the difference and which might I prefer?

Also, does anybody else have any preference over Astronomik when it comes to these?

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It should be pointed out that the CCD-version of the Astronomik OIII works just as well as the visual model. The only difference between them is the CCD-model includes a UV-blocking addition to it's formula. This UV-block has no effect on your visual observations. And if you should decide to try your hand at CCD-imaging, the OIII-Visual filter can easily be stacked with a stand-alone UV-blocking filter. The UV-blocking filters are relatively inexpensive (compared to whole, new OIII-filter) and they are available wherever you buy filters from.

Over & Out,

Dave

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