UHC Filters

[Ed in UK]

Although I've had my scope for a couple of years it hasn't had much use and I'm pretty much still inexperienced.

The other night I was looking at M13 which pretty much matches everyone's description of a fuzzy ball. I couldn't really say that I could start to resolve any of the stars, maximum magnication was x100.

Would a Ultra High Contrast Filter help?

If so any recommendation please.

TIA.

Ed

[Kyle Allen]

UHC filters only work on planetary and emission nebulae, which emit most of their light in a specific wavelength. Stars, galaxies and reflection nebulae emit light across a broad spectrum so filters don’t work on them.

You should be able to resolve M13 in your scope. Try using higher power (100-150x) to darken the sky background and increase the separation between the individual stars. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I used to have a very sharp 6"F/8 Newtonian, and with that scope the brighter stars in M13 could just be made out as  what I like to call "diamiond dust". In an 8 inch scope they are really obvious, so I am not surprised a 5.1" scope struggles a bit. Upping the magnification helps, as does waiting for darker nights than what summer provides this far north

[Louis D]

Yep, up around 200x, M13 should start to resolve into diamond dust on black velvet in a 6" to 8" scope.  I haven't tried it in a 5" or smaller scope, though.

[Ed in UK]

Thanks everyone. I'll give a high magnification a try. 👍

[John]

If the seeing conditions are not so good, globular cluster resolution suffers as well.