What am i doing wrong?

[markystars]

I purchased a UHC filter last a couple of weeks ago and have had twitchy fingers while waiting to use it until last night when the heavens cleared long enough to get the 8" Skywatcher out for a brief time. I did the usaul cool down and let my eyes adjust to the dark fully and then located orion. After looking through a couple of different sized eyepieces i decided to put the filter to the test. I used a 16mm plossl and well it looked slightly different but not loads. Never mind I thought, move on to Horsehead and flame nebula and see if I could see anything there. I pointed the scope there and put in the 7.5mm Orion ED, all I could see was a very bright green mass around Alnitak, i gather by the green mass that i was in the right place, but using all my powers of averted vision and staring for a while, i could not make anything else out.

Am i doing something wrong or is the 8" just not powerfull enough to see anything like that? I do have a descent barlow but didnt put that in, would that have made the difference? I am hoping to get my newly aquired 12" on it tonight to see what that does but thought id better check that theres no other things i should be thinking about

Thanks

[acey]

I looked many times for the Horsehead with my 8-inch, with and without UHC, and couldn't do it. The thing you're looking for is a tiny indentation of blackness in the edge of a very faint nebula.

The zeta Orionis nebula itself is something I only managed little bits of, very faintly, with the 8-inch and UHC. And that's from a dark site (limiting mag approx 6).

The Flame is easier, but still hard. I did it with the 8-inch and UHC but it was at the limits of what I could manage.

There are loads of things where the UHC will really improve the view, though. Try it on any emission nebula you view. Don't go for the objects made famous by imagers - get through the Messier and Caldwell showpieces first.

On very bright nebulae (e.g. M42) I prefer the unfiltered view. And if you want to see colour (green/blue) you certainly need to leave the filter off. But there are lots of other, fainter nebulae surrounding M42 that the UHC will help with.

I rate the UHC one of the best bits of kit I ever bought. Not like my barlow, which I never use. It just makes things bigger, not better.

[markystars]

Thanks, good advise. Looks like im expecting too much . Will take your advise and look for other objects rather than the famous ones lol. Will have another go at the flame though

[James]

I've yet to see the Horsehead visually but as I understand it you'll need very dark skies, about 10 inch aperture or more and probably a H-Beta filter. One day I'll get clear skies and a chance to try and see it

James

[OldBigNose]

Don't get discouraged or get aperture fever,i have learnt that the vast majority of things up there are very faint and very fuzzy and have to keep reminding myself that what i am viewing is such an incomprehendably vast distance away that my tiny little pieces of glass and filters WON'T bring those objects to my doorstep in crystal clear colours or in pin sharp images!!!

[pvaz]

Thanks, good advise. Looks like im expecting too much . Will take your advise and look for other objects rather than the famous ones lol. Will have another go at the flame though

I also was a lot disappointed with the OIII on orion nebula, it showed more area but toke out detail on the center. A wider FOV will be better for the orion neb. Nothing showed on the horsehead/flame either.

It makes a huge difference on the veil. It was almost invisible naked eye and it just popped out with the OIII showing a good amount of detail. It also made the owl nebula more visible, but it was just above the horizon and the seeing wasn't that good. I need to try it on more emission nebula's.

I would suggest you to have a look at both sections of the veil. I don't have a UHC to know how it looks but if it comes close to the OIII you'll enjoy it.

[John]

I've found that UHC and OIII filters are most effective on planetary nebulae and have a much more subtle effect on other nebulae types. I prefer the un-filtered view of M42 myself - my Astronomik OIII brightens the central areas at the expense of the outer filaments.

With most deep sky objects, truly dark skies have the most dramatic effect on what can be seen.

John

[Talitha]

Just wondering.. when you looked at the Flame, was Alnitak in the fov?

Here's an unfiltered sketch from last year and as you can see, i needed to move the star out of the way in order to cut the glare and see the nebula better. Actually, i don't think a lot of aperture is needed for the Flame.. i can easily see it with averted vision using 22x100 binoculars. But no matter what you use, it really helps to avoid Alnitak's glare and then use averted vision on the nebula.

Keep trying, and good luck to you.

[markystars]

Aha, it seems that putting Alnitak in the middle of the FOV was not the best plan after all then! I think next time i will put it out of view and try that way. Thanks for all the advise