Mars observation filters: Do they work?

Hi Group,

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Thanks in advance,

Scott

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:44:07 -0700, wrote:

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

I don't know about the specific filters in question, but in general,
simple colored filters do enhance planetary views (different colors for
different planets). But the enhancement is subtle... IMO such filters
are best used by otherwise experienced observers willing to spend many
minutes looking at a planet. The difference between filtered and
unfiltered views isn't going to knock anyone's socks off. For that, you
need a webcam g.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

It seems to me that larger aperture scopes would benefit more from these
filters.
100 mm or more probably due to the ability to attain high magnification with
good
resolution.

wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi Group,

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Thanks in advance,

Scott

It seems to me that larger aperture scopes would benefit more from these
filters.100 mm or more probably due to the ability to attain high
magnification with
good resolution.


wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi Group,

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Thanks in advance,

Scott

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?


A woman in our club has tried a Sirius Planetary Contrast filter on Mars,
and she and the few others (not me) who observed with it were not impressed.
I and others I observe with have always found a Wratten #85 (salmon) filter
to work very well on Mars, and other colors are also effective on bringing
out different kinds of detail. However, the filters aren't magical and don't
make a bad view good.

Dennis

On Aug 30, 6:53 am, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:44:07 -0700, wrote:
Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

I don't know about the specific filters in question, but in general,
simple colored filters do enhance planetary views (different colors for
different planets). But the enhancement is subtle... IMO such filters
are best used by otherwise experienced observers willing to spend many
minutes looking at a planet. The difference between filtered and
unfiltered views isn't going to knock anyone's socks off. For that, you
need a webcam g.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply. I have used the wratten #21 red filter to
observe Mars before but what I was referring to as a "Mars observation
filter" is the "Mars observation filter" from Orion Telescopes found
he

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/pr...oductID=289311

and Tele Vue's "Bandmate Mars Visual FIlter" found he

http://televue.com/engine/page.asp?ID=253

Do these filters provide anything "extra" that the regular colored
filters don't?

Thanks,

Scott

On Aug 30, 8:44 am, wrote:

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Hi Scott,

First the bad news: I have no first-hand experience with any of the
relatively new Mars filters.

On the other hand, I've experimented a bit in the past with a variety
of color filters during a few of the last Martian oppositions. As
others have stated, those filters *can* make a difference. As a
matter of fact, *most* of my relatively recent Mars observations have
been made with the aid of color filters. The Orion Mars filter looks
to have a somewhat similar light transmission profile as that of the
Baader Moon-SkyGlow filter (which I do have; but haven't yet tried on
Mars).

For the price, the new Mars filters look to be worth a try; but I'll
hold out to see how my MSG filter performs with and without various
color filters.

In my opinion some of the color filters have the benefit of enhancing
one type of feature at the expense of all other features. The
specialized Mars filters *might* provide a better overall view than
any one of the relatively inexpensive, traditional color filters; but
I suspect that it might be easier to tell what type of feature one is
seeing when one is using the various color filters. In other words,
the Mars filters might be better suited to showing Mars to the general
public while the color filters might be better for use by the more
experienced amateur observer. This is all just educated speculation
on my part.

The Orion filter wheel, if well made, looks to be a very practical and
useful tool provided one's focuser has the necessary range of travel.
I would expect this device to be more practical (with color filters)
than any of the Mars filters.

On the more selfish side of this posting: This is my first posting to
saa since my ISP dropped newsgroups. As such, it's my first saa
posting via Google Groups. I would be interested in hearing from
others how this post (and any related items)appears in their various
news readers. Does everything look good as is? Should I attempt to
change anything -- assuming I could figure out how to make the
change(s)? An email from Jan Owen helped in my re-consideration of
the Google option. Thanks Jan!

Hopefully someone can eventually provide Scott with the information
he's really after . . .

Bill Greer, aka "Sketcher"

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Aug 30, 8:44 am, wrote:

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Hi Scott,

First the bad news: I have no first-hand experience with any of the
relatively new Mars filters.

On the other hand, I've experimented a bit in the past with a variety
of color filters during a few of the last Martian oppositions. As
others have stated, those filters *can* make a difference. As a
matter of fact, *most* of my relatively recent Mars observations have
been made with the aid of color filters. The Orion Mars filter looks
to have a somewhat similar light transmission profile as that of the
Baader Moon-SkyGlow filter (which I do have; but haven't yet tried on
Mars).

For the price, the new Mars filters look to be worth a try; but I'll
hold out to see how my MSG filter performs with and without various
color filters.

In my opinion some of the color filters have the benefit of enhancing
one type of feature at the expense of all other features. The
specialized Mars filters *might* provide a better overall view than
any one of the relatively inexpensive, traditional color filters; but
I suspect that it might be easier to tell what type of feature one is
seeing when one is using the various color filters. In other words,
the Mars filters might be better suited to showing Mars to the general
public while the color filters might be better for use by the more
experienced amateur observer. This is all just educated speculation
on my part.

The Orion filter wheel, if well made, looks to be a very practical and
useful tool provided one's focuser has the necessary range of travel.
I would expect this device to be more practical (with color filters)
than any of the Mars filters.

On the more selfish side of this posting: This is my first posting to
saa since my ISP dropped newsgroups. As such, it's my first saa
posting via Google Groups. I would be interested in hearing from
others how this post (and any related items)appears in their various
news readers. Does everything look good as is? Should I attempt to
change anything -- assuming I could figure out how to make the
change(s)? An email from Jan Owen helped in my re-consideration of
the Google option. Thanks Jan!

Hopefully someone can eventually provide Scott with the information
he's really after . . .

Bill Greer, aka "Sketcher"


BINGO!!!

You MADE it!!!

GREAT!!!

Hope to see lots more of you now!!! WELCOME HOME!!!

--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
http://community.webshots.com/user/janowen21

wrote in message
ups.com...
On Aug 30, 8:44 am, wrote:

Do those Mars observation filters work? I'm thinking about the one
sold by Orion Telescope and I think Televue has one as well. Do they
make a difference? Any advice on whose to buy?

Hi Scott,

First the bad news: I have no first-hand experience with any of the
relatively new Mars filters.

On the other hand, I've experimented a bit in the past with a variety
of color filters during a few of the last Martian oppositions. As
others have stated, those filters *can* make a difference. As a
matter of fact, *most* of my relatively recent Mars observations have
been made with the aid of color filters. The Orion Mars filter looks
to have a somewhat similar light transmission profile as that of the
Baader Moon-SkyGlow filter (which I do have; but haven't yet tried on
Mars).

For the price, the new Mars filters look to be worth a try; but I'll
hold out to see how my MSG filter performs with and without various
color filters.

In my opinion some of the color filters have the benefit of enhancing
one type of feature at the expense of all other features. The
specialized Mars filters *might* provide a better overall view than
any one of the relatively inexpensive, traditional color filters; but
I suspect that it might be easier to tell what type of feature one is
seeing when one is using the various color filters. In other words,
the Mars filters might be better suited to showing Mars to the general
public while the color filters might be better for use by the more
experienced amateur observer. This is all just educated speculation
on my part.

The Orion filter wheel, if well made, looks to be a very practical and
useful tool provided one's focuser has the necessary range of travel.
I would expect this device to be more practical (with color filters)
than any of the Mars filters.

On the more selfish side of this posting: This is my first posting to
saa since my ISP dropped newsgroups. As such, it's my first saa
posting via Google Groups. I would be interested in hearing from
others how this post (and any related items)appears in their various
news readers. Does everything look good as is? Should I attempt to
change anything -- assuming I could figure out how to make the
change(s)? An email from Jan Owen helped in my re-consideration of
the Google option. Thanks Jan!

Hopefully someone can eventually provide Scott with the information
he's really after . . .

Bill Greer, aka "Sketcher"


I was so glad to see you got everything sorted out with Google that I forgot
to mention (at this age, I do that a LOT) that your post came through just
fine, and looks perfectly normal in all respects...

Well done!!!

--
Jan

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
http://community.webshots.com/user/janowen21

wrote

I would be interested in hearing from
others how this post (and any related items)appears in their various
news readers. Does everything look good as is? Should I attempt to
change anything -- assuming I could figure out how to make the
change(s)?

Looks perfect down here, Bill.

Howard