H beta filter

[stormioV]

Hi, would or could I get much use from h beta filter. I have 8inch SCT and I am  in Bottle 3-4 area. I have Oiii & UHC filters which both work great. Thanks.

[Don Pensack]

1 hour ago, stormioV said:

Hi, would or could I get much use from h beta filter. I have 8inch SCT and I am  in Bottle 3-4 area. I have Oiii & UHC filters which both work great. Thanks.

That depends.  Do you like to seek out the large and very faint nebulae right at the limit?

If you do, then an H-ß filter can help.

Here are some objects where an H-ß filter will help a lot:

From David Knisely:

While the H-Beta is probably one of the less-used nebula filters, the commonly expressed idea that it works only on a handful of objects is not necessarily true. Here is a list of some of the more prominent objects that the H-Beta may be at least somewhat useful on. Some may require larger apertures (and some may be slightly better in other filters), but a few have been seen from a dark sky site by just holding the filter up to the unaided eye and looking at the sky. Some of these will also be helped by a narrow-band filter like the Lumicon UHC.

1. IC 434 (HORSEHEAD NEBULA)
2. NGC 1499 (CALIFORNIA NEBULA, naked eye and RFT)
3. M43 (part of the Great Orion Nebula)
4. IC 5146 (COCOON NEBULA in Cygnus)
5. M20 (TRIFID NEBULA, main section)
6. NGC 2327 (diffuse nebula in Monoceros)
7. IC 405 (the FLAMING STAR NEBULA in Auriga)
8. IC 417 (diffuse Nebula in Auriga)
9. IC 1283 (diffuse Nebula in Sagittarius)
10. IC 1318 GAMMA CYGNI NEBULA (diffuse nebula in Cygnus)
11. IC 2177: SEAGULL NEBULA (Diffuse Nebula, Monoceros)
12. IC 5076 (diffuse nebula, Cygnus)
13. PK64+5.1 "CAMPBELL'S HYDROGEN STAR" Cygnus (PNG 64.7+5.0)
14. Sh2-157a (small round nebula inside larger Sh2-157, Cassiopeia)
15. Sh2-235 (diffuse nebula in Auriga).
16. Sh2-276 "BARNARD'S LOOP" (diffuse nebula in Orion, naked eye)
17. IC 2162 (diffuse nebula in northern Orion)
18 Sh2-254 (diffuse nebula in northern Orion near IC 2162)
19. Sh2-256-7 (diffuse nebula in northern Orion near IC 2162)
20. vdB93 (Gum-1) (diffuse nebula in Monoceros near IC 2177)
21. Lambda Orionis nebular complex (very large, naked-eye)
22. Sh2-273 "Cone" Nebula portion south of cluster NGC 2264

In addition, a number of the brighter nebulae like NGC 7000 or M42 will respond to H-Beta use for revealing certain specific detail, although other filters may provide a somewhat better view overall.

[John]

My skies are bortle 5 here. I used to have a good quality (Astronomik) H-Beta filter when I had a 12 inch scope. That filter did help me to see the Horsehead Nebula (just !!!) but frankly very little else under my skies.

Under darker skies I might have got more from the H-Beta of course.

[Zermelo]

Another thread over on CN:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/441767-good-objects-for-observing-with-the-h-beta-filter/

[stormioV]

Thanks for replies. I have 1 x 2 inch eyepiece. ES68 34mm, all rest are 1.25. Would it be best to get this filter as 1.25 or 2 inch? My diagonal is not threaded to accept filters.

[Don Pensack]

2 hours ago, stormioV said:

Thanks for replies. I have 1 x 2 inch eyepiece. ES68 34mm, all rest are 1.25. Would it be best to get this filter as 1.25 or 2 inch? My diagonal is not threaded to accept filters.

2" because with H-ß, you will use that 34mm a lot.

Plus, a 2" filter will fit the bottom of the 2" to 1.25" adapter for use with 1.25" eyepieces.

if the adapter is short and you fear the 1.25" barrel hitting the filter, you can always add a 48mm extender to the adapter to move the filter farther away.

48mm extenders are available in 3-50mm lengths and many in between.  One good example: Baader 14mm Fine Tuning Ring.

[stormioV]

Would Svbony H-beta 2 inch be ok ?

[PeterW]

Narrower filters provide better contrast, even with small optics under poor light pollution: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/722322-pushing-the-filter-envelope-observing-galactic-nebulae-with-handheld-binoculars-under-suburban-skies/page-2

 

Peter

[scarp15]

California Nebula responds very well to a H-Beta filter, at low power, dark transparent skies etc. Personally I like to use 2" filters. 

[jetstream]

The Hb is my least used filter and so its strange I'll pick up the new Baader CMOS when the exchange comes around. In reality I think most people would benefit upgrading their OIII or UHC to top quality Televue or Astronomik filters, IMHO.

Gerry

[Don Pensack]

On 19/05/2023 at 09:23, stormioV said:

Would Svbony H-beta 2 inch be ok ?

No.  25nm is a ridiculous bandwidth for an H-ß filter.  You'd be better off getting a narrowband O-III + H-ß filter with about the same bandwidth that would also work on many other types of nebulae.

The best H-ß visual filters will have bandwidths in the 9-12nm range, and H-ß photographic filters in the 3-8nm range.

The narrower the filter, the greater the contrast enhancement.

Here are some H-ß filters that meet the requirements:

Arcturus	12nm bandwidth
Astronomik	12nm bandwidth
Baader	8.5nm bandwidth
Custom Scientific	10nm bandwidth
Intercon Spacetec (ICS)	12nm bandwidth
Orion	12nm bandwidth
Optolong	12nm bandwidth