1.  Optolong OIII Introduction

Optolong narrowband OIII filter is designed for nebula observation allowing 12nm bandwidth of light centered on a wavelength of 500nm through, which corresponds to OIII emission lines, and reducing the transmission of certain wavelengths of light, specifically those produced by artificial light including mercury vapor, and both high and low pressure sodium vapor lights and the unwanted natural light caused by neutral oxygen emission in our atmosphere (i.e. skyglow).

OIII emits 495.9nm and 500.7nm and it is a blue-green colored filter. Many of images of planetary nebula and supernova remnants are taken only with H-alpha and OIII filters. They show great structural details, but have natural colors, looking like an RGB image.

Main Use

Suitable for visual observation on most emission nebulae, planetary nebulae and supernova remnants.

Suitable for viewing on bright nebulae like M42 Orion Nebula in heavy light pollution. 

Use with a large aperture telescope under clear and dark viewing conditions with good seeing.

Narrowband filter do not eliminate the effects of light pollution or increase the object’s brightness. In many cases, they increase the contrast between nebula and night sky, not brightening the nebula.

WARNING: The filters of Optolong are not designed for sun observation. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITH OPTOLONG FILTER. You would be BLIND if you fail to observe the warning.

2. Optolong OIII Spectrum and Characteristic
Sbustrate: Optical glass
Thickness: 1.85mm
Tave:  T>80%
Blocking range: 400-700nm
Blcoking depth: light pollution  line blocking >99%
Surface quality: 60/40
Transmitted Wavefront RMS: λ/4
 Parallelism: 30s

How to read the chart?

▲The horizontal axis is the Wavelength in Nanometers(nm).

▲The vertical axis is transmission in %.

▲The RED line shows the transmission of the OIII filter. Green line shows the emmission of nebula. The artifical emission lines are shown in ORANGE. 

About Optolong

While Optolong is a relative newcomer to the astronomy industry, they are no strangers to optics and filters. Optolong is a division of Yulong Optics Company, a high tech company specializing in optical filter design and production. Their products include bandpass filters, flourescence filters, edge filters, longpass and shortpass filters, beam splitters, anti-reflection coatings, optical mirrors and, of course, astronomical filters.

Established in 1999 and based in Kunming City, China, Optolong/Yulong provides nearly 2000 types of optical filter coatings annually to customers worldwide in a wide variety of industries and applications.