Cartes du Ciel has a good graphic planetary visibility position indicator. I had a bit of a time installing CDC on Ubuntu LTS, although I've been told it was pretty easy to install on Mint.



https://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/download

 

I installed it on my old laptop that ran Ubuntu. This thread from the Ubuntu forums is me trying to install it on my newer laptop lol.

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2359195

 

I dunno, depends on how die hard you feel at the time. Until opposition next year it will just be a little red dot.

 

Jupiter might be a better bet. I saw Jupiter at opposition this year quite low and even managed to catch a Ganymede transit.

 

Ganymede transit and Jupiter opposition 7/4/17, 21:07 local time. There was a bright Moon but the seeing was good. I was using the 130mm Newtonian and a 5mm TS Optics Planetary HR for 180x.



Of course, I saw this inverted!

 

I didn't expect it to be that good that low, I even think the bright Moon helped somewhat as Jupiter is very bright at opposition.

 

I think they're decent choices.

Wratten #23A Light Red 25% Transmission. Can often reveal detail on a bright twilight Venus and is beneficial when the Moon is approaching full. Also good for some Martian features. Makes a daylight blue sky appear black. Best with apertures 150mm and over. I don't use this a lot myself.

Wratten #38A Dark Blue, 17% T. Can drastically sharpen, define and reveal the phase on a bright daylight or twilight Venus, even with telescope apertures as small as 90mm. May reveal cloud detail. Useful for Full Moon viewing at low power.

Wratten #56 Light Green, 53% T. Good with lunar contrast, helps viewing Martian polar caps, reveals red features and the GRS on Jupiter and Saturn. Good for reducing glare on Jupiter and Saturn when they are bright targets and is often useful used on a bright twilight Venus to reveal phase.

I'd consider these next:

Wratten #47 Violet, 5% T. Similar to the #38A and works on smaller scopes with a very bright Venus (especially in daylight), although generally too aggressive for apertures under 200mm. Interesting for Full Moon viewing utilising exit pupils of around 3.5mm ~ 4mm even on smaller apertures (particularly with SCT and Maksutov type telescopes).

Wratten #11 Yellow Green, 78% T. Can show as much, if not more, surface detail on Mars as a Baader Neodymium filter and can darken maria. Exceptionally improves Saturn's rings and emphasises the Cassini Division, definitely improves colours and contrast in Saturn's surface features. Can enhance Jupiter immensely, especially red and brown features.

Wratten #80A Medium Blue, 30% T/Baader Blue 470nm Bandpass. Good all round lunar contrast filter. Excels as a contrast filter on a very bright Jupiter and darkens the GRS. Enhances Saturn's surface features and some ring detail. Helps with Martian surface features and especially revealing polar caps. Can show Venusian cloud details that aren't normally well contrasted. I tend to use the Baader equivalent but it's a good filter to have.

 

Jupiter's very bright at opposition and it's quite dark in my back garden. Sometimes it's easier to see detail with a twilight Jupiter. I think the bright Moon acted a bit like that in some way. I've noticed a similar effect when Jupiter is in the Moon's vicinity.

 

All of my TS Optics filters are actually GSO. I'm not sure where I got 78% from for the #11. I'd wager it was more than 40% though. It certainly transmits more than the 67% of the #15A Dark Yellow filter.



As you can see GSO's site is a tad vague lol.

http://www.gs-telescope.com/content.asp?id=131

I got these figures off the net somewhere, they seem about right:

AD050 #58 Dark Green 24% T

AD051 #56 Light Green 53% T

AD052 #38A Dark Blue 17% T

AD053 #80A Medium Blue 30% T

AD054 #82A Light Blue 73% T

AD055 #15A Dark Yellow Filter 67% T

AD056 #12 Deep Yellow 74% T

AD057 #8 Light Yellow 83% T

AD058 #11 Yellow/Green Filter 78% T

AD059 #25 Red 14% T

AD060 #23A Light Red Filter 25% T

AD061 #47 Violet 3% T

AD062 #21 Orange 46% T

AD063 #29 Dark Red Filter 7% T

AD083 #96ND 50% T – Density 0.3

AD084 #96ND 25% T – Density 0.6

AD085 #96ND 13% T – Density 0.9

The #11 Yellow Green is one of my most used filters. It's often stated that the Blue #80A is the 'Jupiter filter', I think Orion even market it as such.



I call the #11 Yellow Green the 'Saturn filter' as it's so good on Saturn. It's equally good on Mars though for some reason. If I could only have one coloured filter it would be the #11.

 

Lordy! Have you guys ever been busy today! My thunder!

Thanks for the addition to my filing-cabinet...er...computer. I got it.

And you might want a #58 Green Filter, while you're at it. If you've read the Pdf. I dropped in the 'Never Ending Thread' and have an interest in double-stars.

Here - knock yourself out -

https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Acc...lter-Set/rc/2160/pc/-1/c/3/sc/48/p/113384.uts

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