First time with my OIII

[Kon]

I finally managed to trial my OIII filter (TV Bandmate II OIII) without the bright moon around (or not until later) in an impromptu session when the skies cleared from the clouds (1230am).  My first target was the  Owl nebula since I am very familiar with it. Without the filter I can always see it as an elongated bright smudge but with the filter on it looked much tighter and round. I do not thing I saw more features but it stood out much nicer. I tried the NGC 2174 and with the filter I could see some very faint nebulosity but I had to convince myself I was seeing it, i thought it would be brighter. I also had a go at NGC281; nice clear nebulosity that I could only see with the filter. I finally had a try on IC 1805, and I could only make some faint areas. While I was in the area I took the filter out and had a look at the NGC 869 and NGC 884, beautiful double cluster with loads of stars that could fit nicely in my 32mm EP.  I do not think seeing was the best last night with some clouds coming in and out.

Overall super happy with its performance and for very faint nebulas awesome. I think for the brighter ones I will have to check before hand if a filter would be advantageous or not. I am not sure I would be happy switching the filter on/off under winter freezing conditions. One down thing, expected of filters, is the loss of colour from stars. Looking forward to give it a proper try with better skies.

[Paul73]

Glad that you enjoyed your new filter.

Just wait until you see what it does on the Veil!

Paul

[John]

Great stuff !

As Paul says, the Veil Nebula views on a dark night will really convince you that the filter is "earning it's keep"

I could probably get by quite well with the O-III as being my only deep sky filter. I did in fact, for a few years.

With planetary nebulae I do find that it's well worth observing both with the filter and without because the filter, while bringing out contrast in the target can also hide things like dim central stars and nearby non-O-III responsive objects such as the galaxy M108 which lies in the same low power field as M97, the Owl Nebula. 

I guess a really low profile filter slide / wheel might be helpful, one which takes up little or no optical length if there is such a thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by John

[Kon]

26 minutes ago, John said:

Great stuff !

As Paul says, the Veil Nebula views on a dark night will really convince you that the filter is "earning it's keep"

I could probably get by quite well with the O-III as being my only deep sky filter. I did in fact, for a few years.

With planetary nebulae I do find that it's well worth observing both with the filter and without because the filter, while bringing out contrast in the target can also hide things like dim central stars and nearby non-O-III responsive objects such as the galaxy M108 which lies in the same low power field as M97, the Owl Nebula. 

I guess a really low profile filter slide / wheel might be helpful, one which takes up little or no optical length if there is such a thing

Yes I am looking forward to more things coming into view soon😀. I agree having the M97 and M108 in the same FOV is great without the filter; it is my goto location to judge if conditions are also good for DSO viewing.

 

I have been looking for a  filter slider/wheel but nothing yet.