Coloured Filters

[Kain]

Are coloured filters really that usefully?

Just wondering around Eba (was actually looking for a solar filter cheap bub to no avail)

I came across loads of coloured filters, all claiming to make planets look better.

Kain

[Andrew*]

I've been wondering what's the real point in a coloured filter for astronomy and why they're always included in EP sets as though they were essentials and a neodymium isn't!!

Maybe I'm far off the mark...

Andrew

[Kain]

When I first got my Tasco, It came with a green filter for the moon.

If anything it made it worse!

Kain

[FLO]

Are coloured filters really that useful?

If you have plenty of aperture (at least six inch) to compensate for the way coloured filters darken the image - yes.

Otherwise - no.

[Astroman]

Colored filters actually do work on planets, but the improvement is very subtle. I use them to find planets during the day-a blue or red one on the finder for instance. They usually come with a guide, telling which filter brings out which features on which planet. I tell people to carefully observe the planets first, get to know what you can see without a filter, then put one in and see if it makes a difference. If they come with your EP set fine, but put them away until you learn how to see all there is first. Just my opinion.

[GazOC]

http://stargazerslounge.co.uk/index.php?topic=1294.0

I find Orange 23 works very well for Mars.

[The Warthog]

They usually come with a guide, telling which filter brings out which features on which planet.

The guide tells me that every filter in the bunch enhances lunar detail, and all are variously useful on Jupiter. All but one are useful on Saturn. As you said, it's a bit of a matter of taste. I have found the green and orange filters useful on the Moon, and the Yellow on Jupiter and Saturn, occasionally. I usually observe without a filter, except during Full Moon.