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Old 07-18-2008, 01:35 AM
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Carlos_dfc Carlos_dfc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by admin View Post
Do light pollution filters work at all for these?
Light Pollution filters are very hit-and-miss.
If you have the right filter, for the lights in your neighbourhood, then they can be quite effective - BUT are very aggressive - they dim the whole image generally - so big aperture is needed.
Then you take your scope to your local club - their streetlights are a different wavelength - and your narrowband LP filter ceases to work very well.
Also, different types of target (galaxies, reflection nebulae, planetary nebulae, etc...) respond differently, to different filters
And at the prices - it's just not practical to carry a selection to suit different lighting and/or targets IMHO

I have found however - that the 'Baader Neodymium' filter can be quite effective, over a wide range of situations.
It isn't primarily a light-pollution filter, but is mainly a contrast booster, that also has a mild LP filtering effect.
Nowhere near as aggressive as the specific LP filters - it allows 95% transmission of 'good' light (so is OK to use with smaller apertures too)
The combination of contrast boost, and mild LP filtering - makes most targets stand out better against the background sky, allowing more detail to be seen in everything from open and globular clusters, through galaxies, and on to include most kinds of nebulae.

And when used in conjunction with a variable polariser (to dim planets' brightness) the contrast boosting properties also help bring out subtle surface details on Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Best 'bang-for-the-buck' general purpose filter out there IMHO

Since I got the Neodymium to add to my variable polariser, I've hardly ever used any of my coloured planetary filters, and have never used my Celestron LPR filter again.
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