Filters or eyepieces?

[ibanez695]

Filters or eyepiece?

First off hello to everyone, glad to be here!

I have an 8inch dob with a 25mm EP only, I want to see more deep sky objects, which would help out the most?

i was thinking 10mm orion highlight?

What range would deep sky objects be viewed at best? 100-200x?

shane

[themos]

What does the Telscope Calculator tell you?

N.A.A. Telescope Math Calculator

For deep sky, I've found that my Lumicon OIII filter gives great views of nebulas and I hardly ever use my Baader UHC

[perrin6]

Ways to improve your views of deep-sky objects:-

(Dont know anything about the '10mm orion highlight')

1) Get a higher contrast eyepiece

2) get away from the city lights

3) Use a higher magnification as this tends to darken the background and bring out fainter objects including faint stars.

4) Averted vision ie. moving your eye around the field of view especially just by where you expect the object to be. (The small part of the retina that you read with, the fovea, is better in day time but the cells that surround the fovea are more light-sensitive)

5) Patience; keep looking and looking and looking.

6) photography

7) (Possibly the most helpful) Most of the galaxies I've seen by finding the precise spot where it is supposed to be located by comparing the star patterns you see on the map to those in the eyepiece.

8) Get a bigger aperture (Although an 8 inch will show a LOT !)

[John]

I saw a similar question posed on another forum a while back. The first answer posted was bang on I think:

Q: "What can I buy for $100 that will help me see more deep sky objects ?".

A: "A tankfull of fuel for your car to get you and the scope to a darksky site !"

I think Alan (perrin6) has listed the principle options well. The eyepiece won't make much difference to be honest. Generally low to medium magnfications are used on deep sky objects but the objects vary in size a lot so you need to be flexible.

A UHC or O-III filter will help bring out the contrast on nebulae and planetary nebulae and supernova remnants in particular. They don't help with galaxies though.

[NGC 1502]

If you have to choose whether to get filters or eyepieces, I'd get eyepieces

first, because they will be useful on all objects, filters for specific objects only.

Best regards, Ed.

[tuc]

Hi Shane,

A 10mm eyepiece is an excellent focal length for your 8" Dob as it will be very useful on many DSO. My 8" scope came with a 25mm and 10mm and a 2x barlow lens and it kept me going for a number of years. I'm also not familiar with the Orion Highlight, but if that's all your budget allows then I say go for it, because you definitely need more power to be able to enjoy most DSO.

[brianb]

The only filter that I'd reccomend a beginner to have is a moon filter. Extra eyepieces (of good quality) are OTOH useful investments ... you don't have to go to the premium end to get EPs that are reasonably good, but it's best to avoid the bargain basement end of the market. Three goodish eyepieces giving about 5x per inch, 12x per inch and 30x per inch will give you a good range covering moon, planets & DSOs ... if you can stretch to a 20x per inch EP then better still.

[Nexus 6]

Q: "What can I buy for $100 that will help me see more deep sky objects ?".

A: "A tankfull of fuel for your car to get you and the scope to a darksky site !"

really good answer John, even by naked eye its pretty outstanding and worth every penny if you have to travel.