Sirius Mars 2003 Filter

Anacortes sent me two Sirius Optics Mars 2003 filters in the 1.25" format ($39 each). They come in snap cases with serialized spectral property reports. The bandpasses are not identical, which is to be expected.

Tonight in a binoviewer and 6" refractor Mars came alive with contrast. I was using 7.4mm TV Plossls with the filters. The planets color seems almost violet, with darker regions much more obvious. It's like seeing a processed Mars without garish excess. Light transmission is still good, much better than a #23 or #25.

I hope these 2003 filters work in 2005!

My Sirius Optics Mars filter arrived Monday, and the clouds cleared Tuesday! On an orange tube C8, no coatings, I tried it with the following: TV 20mm plossl, 14, 5, & 4 mm Radians (seeing wasn't good enough for the 4, surprize, and pretty iffy with the 5), an older Celestron 10mm plossl marked Taiwan, and an Orion 7.5mm Ultrascopic.

In all eyepieces there was a nice salmon pinkish hue and more detail was visible. On the downside there was both a diffuse 'filled in halo' around Mars and a bright flare. Any movement observing caused the flare to jump & hop around as if on a convex surface. Someone else posted here they had a halo type problem with one of the Televue Bandmates and was told it was 'normal,' and would be worse in some eyepiece designs like the Radians. In the Radians the flare was worse than the Plossl types.

Overall, I find the benefit outweighs the downside. Although I wouldn't use them much with a Radian. I also find the 21 yellow filter to be of benefit, but different.

Of the various filters I have, the other ones being: typical colored filters, a neutral density, a Parks rear cell light pollution and a Baader Moon/skyglow filter, I find all have some signifigant downside as well as benfit, except the Baader. In other words, I'm not a filter type of guy.
Steven