The new RGB filter for Pier-5 is arriving this week +New Flat Panel instalation

Hi all

We have had an on order an Idas LPS-D3 filter to supplement the narrowband filters for some time now and had confirmation this week that its on its way  and should arrive next week.

We don't really suffer light pollution issues from our location but we do get natural skyglow associated with dark sites, plus interference from the Moon in its larger phases obviously. This filter will allow members to keep on trucking with data collection throughout most of the 28day lunar period :)

We will fit this filter on the next trip (Mid June), we will not have to change the camera angle but will have to take new flats, so some data sets may require the use of 2 different sets of flats

We are also installing a new flat panel while we are there as these new filters require a different light source than when we were just a standard OSC setup

IDAS LPS-D3(formerly NGS1) filters enhance the contrast of astronomical emission nebulae against a sky with both man-made and natural* sky glow sources, yet preserve color balance of broadband objects such as galaxies. As with other IDAS interference filters, the bandpasses are designed to accommodate the steep ray angles of fast optical systems.

Features include:

Ideal flat-top and moderate bandpass
Excellent in-band transmission
Steep bandpass edges minimize internal reflections
Near IR (NIR) is blocked up to 1200nm