108 replies to this topic

[danielgallo]

Hi Daniel,

 

Very useful and well written review (looking forward to the followups) and good luck with your site!

Thanks for the kind words!

[elmiko]

Capturing as I type this , my second night in a row! Ngc6888 The Crescent Nebula. Subs are looking okay. Moon is about 62 degrees away from the target. There is a huge wild fire burning bout 30 miles to the east., The direction of the Nebula.

Fortunately the wind is blowing in that direction. But the skies are still not looking that good. Seeing 5/10.

I will keep plugging away at it though. 10 hours is my goal. Stars are looking a lot smaller using the new L-eHance filter.

Clear skies, Mike

[niccoc1603]

Yesterday I tried this filter for the first time on the Crescent nebula as well

 

Sky conditions (measured with SQM) from light polluted city and waning gibbous moon at 24°max : 17.9 mag/arcsec2

 

 

This is a single quick and dirty un-calibrated 60sec sub stretched in PI

 

I must say I am quite impressed!

 

Edited by niccoc1603, 19 June 2019 - 12:09 PM.

[elmiko]

Looking good for only 1 minute.

Looks like your sky is similar to mine. Are you going to collect more data on this target? I hope so, I would like to see it when you get done.

If you saw my posts above, I am trying to get around 10 hours on this target. It will be a personal record for me as far as aquisition time. I have over six hours over the last two nights. I'm hoping to post a picture by this weekend!

Niccoc1603, have you noticed how the filter really keeps the stars from blooming.

Clear skies Mike

[elmiko]

I think I am liking this L-eHance filter! AstroTech 92 Triplet f/5.5

this is 30 600sec subs captured over the last three nights. 

Captured from red zone backyard under rising full Moon. Moon was between 60 and 62 degrees away each night.

I actually picked up some of the outer HA halo!

this was cropped around 50%

I still have to process The Crescent Nebula. I actually captured around 12 hours on it !!

Mike

 

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by elmiko, 21 June 2019 - 10:22 AM.

[tomb1]

I ordered mine from Highpoint.  Should arrive Monday and weather predictions show some clear sky for the next few days. I'm really looking forward to comparing to the Starguy UHC that I've been using for almost a year now.  Price sure beats Triad and I'm hoping the performance is at least close.  The response curves look similar.  I'm in Oceanside just north of San Diego and just south of Camp Pendleton.  My northern sky is fairly dark but my southern is pretty bright, so I'm hoping this filter will work wonders on the Milky core region this summer. I'm using a ZWO MC294-Pro camera with a modified Comet Catcher or ES AR152 6" acro.  I'll post results comparing the two filters.

 

Praying the clouds finally go away!

[elmiko]

I haven't used the Triad filter, but for a 600.00 price difference I think you will be very happy with your choice.

I am still working on the processing of the Crescent Nebula. I got over 12 hours of data on it with the L-eHance filter, and I am liking what I'm seeing! Will post when I am happy with the final result.

Mike

Edited by elmiko, 22 June 2019 - 02:32 PM.

[elmiko]

https://astrob.in/411326/0/

 

This is the result of 12 +hours The Crescent Nebula using this awesome new filter!

Mike

Edited by elmiko, 22 June 2019 - 02:27 PM.

[Biggen]

What’s the major difference between this and the L-Pro? Is the L-eNhance just for emission Nebula whereas the L-Pro can be used for more general purpose targets?

[niccoc1603]

You are correct.
L-enhance will let only pass OIII and Ha

[gustavo_sanchez]

What’s the major difference between this and the L-Pro? Is the L-eNhance just for emission Nebula whereas the L-Pro can be used for more general purpose targets?

Exactly.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

[tomb1]

https://astrob.in/411326/0/

 

This is the result of 12 +hours The Crescent Nebula using this awesome new filter!

Mike

Wow Mike!  Looks great.  And that's with 90% moon?  Mines now due on Tuesday.  Can't wait.

[elmiko]

Wow Mike!  Looks great.  And that's with 90% moon?  Mines now due on Tuesday.  Can't wait.

Thanks tomb1, that was the longest time I ever have captured. Plus the seeing hasn't been very good either. There is a huge wildfire about 40 miles to the east of me. It is causing haze especially from the moon light hitting it. Last night my guiding wasn't doing very good, hard to find any guide stars in the field of last night's target, The Cocoon Nebula.

Those 5min subs barely revealed the Nebula because of the haze. But I am 100% sure that without the L-eHance filter no Nebula would have shown.

Good luck with the new filter. Be sure to post your images!

Mike

[Ptarmigan]

Just curios, would this filter be useful on galaxies?

[gustavo_sanchez]

Just curios, would this filter be useful on galaxies?

I wouldn't think so. Galaxies are broadband targets, not just Narrowband emission objects. The L-Pro would be better for that.

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[Zebenelgenubi]

I wouldn't think so. Galaxies are broadband targets, not just Narrowband emission objects. The L-Pro would be better for that.

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I agree.  With some minor exceptions ( M82 with its red emission in its core), the filter isn't worth while for galaxies.

[Ptarmigan]

I wouldn't think so. Galaxies are broadband targets, not just Narrowband emission objects. The L-Pro would be better for that.

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Thank you Gustavo. I tend to go for galaxies with video astronomy.

[tomb1]

Just curios, would this filter be useful on galaxies?

I'm doing EEA (video astronomy) as well and I've taken galaxies on as a challenge.  You do need a wide band filter to help with LP as much as possible.  I use a Baader Contrast Booster and it seems to help.   I have no idea what the best broadband filter would be though.  LED street lighting is making artificial LP harder than ever to filter out.  Anyone's suggestions would be appreciated.   

[Ptarmigan]

I'm doing EEA (video astronomy) as well and I've taken galaxies on as a challenge.  You do need a wide band filter to help with LP as much as possible.  I use a Baader Contrast Booster and it seems to help.   I have no idea what the best broadband filter would be though.  LED street lighting is making artificial LP harder than ever to filter out.  Anyone's suggestions would be appreciated.   

I do video astronomy too. I used the Lumicon Deep Sky filter and works for me. I am not aware of any LED filters.

 

I have used monochrome mode and used #29 deep red filter and it helps.

[DonBoy]

Hutech makes a LPS filter the Idas D2 they say is for LED lighting pollution.  You can search CN for reviews and comments.

[elmiko]

https://astrob.in/412389/0/

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[elmiko]

https://astrob.in/412423/0/

 

This is a reprocess of my first one.

I wanted to bring out more of the blue oxygen Nebulosity.

Thanks , Mike

[Zebenelgenubi]

I finally got my Optolong L-eNhance filter. Here are some images from my Bortle 8-9 backyard in Dallas suburb.  I also have a OPT Triad Filter and have owned a STC Dual Filter. I liked those filters a lot but the L-eNhance filter is the best pairing with my ZWOASI294MC-Pro (OSC) camera.  I haven't had to deal with any color gradients and the color balance is very good with the L-eNhance filter.    Here are my images  the Lagoon, Eagle and Pelican nebulae.

 

 

 

 

[elmiko]

Nice images! Zebenelbenubi. Did you have difficulty in the processing? As far as star color? I think the filter is really nice. I don't seem to have any problems with the color calibration in Pixinsite. It does seem to leave a slight red bus to the background. But that's an easy fix.

Mike

[Zebenelgenubi]

Nice images! Zebenelbenubi. Did you have difficulty in the processing? As far as star color? I think the filter is really nice. I don't seem to have any problems with the color calibration in Pixinsite. It does seem to leave a slight red bus to the background. But that's an easy fix.

Mike

I have been doing a lot of imaging with my OPT Triad filter and struggled with color gradients in the image.  I think it is because that filter has a 3 nm Ha passband that isn't well matched to the Bayer red filters in the camera.  The images with the  L-eNhance (which has a 10 nm Ha passband) filter are a breeze to process in comparison.  I don't see any color gradients even for objects near my southern horizon in the Dallas light dome.  I used PI's DBE process to extract a weak green background from these images.  I find that after PCC, the colors are very good and bright.  The after a histogram stretch and Curves processing the image looks ready to go.  The only drawback that I have seen using this filter is that it is does not have a very good response on reflection nebulae (no narrowband filter woks on these broadband objects).  Here is an image I took last night of the reflection nebula NGC 6914.  The Ha emission nebula show up very well but the blue/white reflection nebula near the center of the image is still pretty weak after 2 hours of integration.  I still love this filter.