Colour Filters

[MJP]

I am thinking of buying some colour filters to help bring out detail on planets etc. I am not sure which colours I shall need. I don't want to buy things I shall not use. Any advice will be welcome.

I am viewing with a 120mm Celestron refractor from a reasonably light poluted suburban site.

A filter to see through clouds would also be good (only joking).

Mike:icon_scratch:

[resonator77]

In light polluted area you better off with LP filter such as this one

Light Pollution Reduction

I noticed that colour filters will not help substantially. Other people' opinions might not be the same. Moon filter is another thing to consider to view the moon as it is too bright you will need it.

Moon & Neutral Density Filters

hope this helps

Ramis

[DarkerSky]

I find colour filters useful for Mars and Saturn. This is roughly what you'll need from the Kodak Wratten series:

Mars:

25 Red - increases contrast between darker and lighter areas

15 yellow - helps id yellow clouds

44a Blue, 47 violet and 58 green - helps detection of white clouds and surface frosts. Makes them brighter

Saturn:

25 Red, 44a Blue - increases contrast between equatorial belts and lighter zones

[LukeSkywatcher]

Certain colour filters do give a BIT more contrast on planet detail for scopes of apeture 90-130mm but they really only come into play on scopes with larger apeture then 130mm.

I have found on both my 90mm and 130mm scopes that a yellow filter helps SLIGHTLY with both Saturn and Jupiter.

The Light Pollution Filter (the cheapest one) stated above really does work wonders for cutting down on light pollution. Also a moon filter is worth every penny.

[Talitha]

Hi Mike, there's a nice list on this page, about 2/3 of the way down.