Advice on Astrodon 3nm/5nm Narrow-band Filters

Hi all and happy new year,

I'm looking for your advice. I'm taking the big step into narrowband imaging, I have bad light pollution and everytime it's clear there seems to be a big full moon.At the moment I'm using astronomik LRGB + there 6nm H A filter there all 50mm round. The gradient is terrible I've tried every type of gradient remover tool and they work up to a point but the end result is diminished I'm sick to death of trowing out hours of data with very bad gradient to top it all off there is a new tescos opening soon just a couple of miles away with a big glass roof and it will be open 24/7.

I'm very interested in buying the Astrodon 3nm Narrow-band Filters. H-a, SII, OIII, NII 50mm round but the cost is around 900 Dollars per filter

Then there is the 5nm H-a, SII, OIII at a cost of 550 Dollars per filter my question is would the 5nm be good enough to image all month long or go for the 3nm for the extra contrast

At the moment I using an William Optics FLT 110 Triplet APO Refractor, an Atik 4000 CCD camera with a Truetec filter wheel and a celestron C14 for the close up imaging with an optec .5 reducer.

Would the 5NM be good enough to enable me to image all month long and not worry about the Moon or the bad light pollution or the nasty gradients I'm getting. Or just to be sure go for the 3nm.

Any advice or help would be great

Ps,

Here is info here www.astrodon.com/products/filters/narrowband/ and here 6nm vs 3nm old.astrodon.com/oldsite/6v3/6v3.html

Carl O'Beirnes,
Balbriggan Observatory (MPC#J09),
Co Dublin,
Ireland.
www.webtreatz.com

Hi Carl,

Happy New Year!

I think you will find your answers here: tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ap-ug/message/52370 ... also follow-up on the link in the message.

Anthony.

ayiomamitis wrote:

Hi Carl,

Happy New Year!

To my brother from another mother this is what I was looking for. Now a cup of tea and a good read.

Happy new year and clear skies.

Carl.

Carl - I've no idea or expertise in which band filter is best. However, one thing you might do is join this group:

tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/narrowbandimaging/

I've been part of the group for a few years now. One series of discussions was about particular brands of filter. I recall that there were comparisons made (performance, price, quality) etc. and the Astrodon filters did not fare well. However, that was a few years back.

Richard Crisp regularly contributes. Whilst some might take his "style" as confrontational, he is meticulous and always backs up his facts with data. He is a chip designer by profession (as far as I recall) and is very knowledgable in the field of narrow band imaging. There are many other contributors too of equal quality.

To be honest, its pretty high end stuff and I usually only understand less than half of what they are talking about...

Anyhow, it might be og help to you and will certainly direct your purchasing decisions in the right direction. Afetr all, these filters are pretty expensive and you need to get it right.

HTH
Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the great advice and happy new year to yourself and Fiona. My head is melting trying to make the right decision as I only have one chance to get this right.: blink:

Happy New Year to you and yours too!

Its a head wrecker alright and moreso given the price of the stuff. So take your time and do the research. Come back here as well. I can maybe help during the next week or two by digging out relevent posts from the narrowbandimaging group.

Cheers
Dave