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Mars - too bright!

Texy

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Texy

Texy

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Well I now realise that its quite small compared to Jupiter, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite bright! Too bright in fact to make any detail out on it. I,m fairly confident that focus is as good as it can get as the outline of the planet was quite sharp. However, it is so bright that no detail can be seen. I was using a variety of eyepeices and a 2 x barlow. The highest mag I had with my 8" LX50

was 444 (9.5mm with barlow) - it still seemed very small, even at that mag. Is there a recommended filter for mars in order to see more detail? Incidently I also tried out my toucam pro webcam, but still got the same results, even with most of the settings to minimum (using k3 tools, free version).

Texy

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Smoore

Smoore

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I tend to use my Moon filter on it (neutral density 13% transmission) this takes away a lot of the glare (10" scope), and stack this with colour filters.

I've found that every time I see Mars the better I get at seeing detail on it, have just come back inside from viewing it now and could see dark patches and a slight hint of an ice cap (x300 magnification), the first time I looked at Mars I saw a bright blob and no detail despite it having larger apparant diameter at the time.

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dobserver

dobserver

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Hmm... I wish I'd have read this thread BEFORE I went out there tonight. I just used my latest toy, an 8mm eyepiece, on Mars, and it was far too bright to make out any detail, although much larger than I'm used to seeing it. I have an ND filter, so I'll try that next time. Thanks :headbang:

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  • 2 years later...
Moonshane

Moonshane

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a 6" f11 dob and a 16" f4 dob (which I masked down to an unobstructed 6.7" f11). both work well on planets and have revealed a great deal of detail on Mars this year up to about 300x magnification. but I always need the filter.

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John

John

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I get a bit perplexed reading threads on using filters to make the planets dimmer - I've never found the need for this, or moon filters for that matter :)

My largest scope is a 10". I find that, given a little time, my observing eye adjusts to the brightness of the planet concerned and any problems with perceiving contrast or detail are down to the seeing conditions rather than anything else.

Having invested in decent quality optics I'm loathed to introduce any more glass into the optical train than really needs to be there.

I appreciate that other peoples eyes may react differently though.

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Jammy

Jammy

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Nice scopes Moonshane :)

I've only had my scope a few months and bought the Celestron EP set that includes the filter set. I've tried all the filters on Mars but can't remember which gives the best detail. The blue, orange, and red were probably best visually.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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I get a bit perplexed reading threads on using filters to make the planets dimmer - I've never found the need for this, or moon filters for that matter :)

My largest scope is a 10". I find that, given a little time, my observing eye adjusts to the brightness of the planet concerned and any problems with perceiving contrast or detail are down to the seeing conditions rather than anything else.

Having invested in decent quality optics I'm loathed to introduce any more glass into the optical train than really needs to be there.

I appreciate that other peoples eyes may react differently though.

I agree totally John. I much prefer an unfiltered view where possible but do find the Neodymium makes a big difference (probably only aesthetically though in reality) to the views of Mars and Jupiter and it makes the moon more contrasty and natural looking (whatever that means). The detail seen with it can certainly be seen without it but it's easier with.

One reason I bought the Baader one over others is that they claim they are optically polished and this suggests a better 'figure' on the surface so I hope they will not affect views too much in terms of sharpness etc; they certainly don't appear to.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Just for interest, Lumicon make very nice filters for all sorts of purposes Astronomical, if you have a look at their web site they have provided a wealth of info on what filter will reveal planetary detail including the Moon, there is also a list of which filter is best suited for many of the popular Nebula in M , NGC , IC and other listings :)

John.

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John

John

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...One reason I bought the Baader one over others is that they claim they are optically polished and this suggests a better 'figure' on the surface so I hope they will not affect views too much in terms of sharpness etc; they certainly don't appear to.

I agree and I think it is worth buying decent quality filters like Baader, Lumicon (as John mentions above), Astronomik etc to get that optical quality. There is another thread on the forum regarding the need to re-focus when a filter is added so they must be regarded as a further optical component and one where a certain measure of precision is desirable.

It would be interesting to see a detailed optical surface comparison of a range of filter brands to see what we are really putting into our scopes.

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Stu

Stu

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I did notice that the 2" Baader Neodymium filter I have affects the field flatness. I left mine in the diagonal after viewing Mars and switched to an open cluster. There was quite a difference between centre and edge focus position which went away once I removed the filter.

I was using my 4", plus 31t5 and I guess I was surprised that it introduced that much of an error. Not that much of a problem on planets admittedly but maybe on other objects

Stu

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