For tri-color CCD imaging, changing color filters between exposures is essential. Powered filter wheels are available that change filters automatically, but they are usually specific to certain brands of CCD cameras and cost many times the modest price of the Orion filter wheel. The economical Orion filter wheel will work with any CCD camera that uses 1.25” accessories, including the Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome II camera (#ORDSM). This package can be added to the Orion camera at any time, but is also available prepackaged with the camera (#ORPACK) at a considerable savings over the cost of the camera and this filter wheel/filter package when bought separately.

This package consists of the Orion multiple filter wheel (#ORFW) and the four-filter #ORLRGB 1.25” LRGB filter set at a price less than the cost of the filter wheel and filters bought separately. The LRGB filter set includes red, green, and blue filters, plus an IR/UV cutting luminance filter. The filters use high quality multi-layer ion-deposited dichroic interference coatings on optical glass substrates.

All filters have an additional IR coating (not just the luminance filter) to reduce the bloated appearance of stars that radiate strongly in the IR region. The infrared region is beyond the normal range of the human eye when the stars are observed visually through a telescope, and so the stars appear normal, but they record strongly on a CCD detector and bloat in CCD images. The IR coating reduces this effect. The UV coating on the luminance filter has the same anti-bloating effect on images of those stars that radiate strongly in the ultraviolet region. The result is CCD images that record the stars essentially as they appear to the human eye.

Simply thread the LRGB filters or any standard 1.25” filters you choose into the filter wheel (you can change filters or reorder their sequence any time you like). The wheel has a 1.25” nosepiece that fits into your scope focuser or rear cell. There’s a 1.25” eyepiece holder on the back side of the wheel to hold your 1.25” star diagonal or CCD camera’s nosepiece. Simply turn the knurled dial on the filter wheel to select the filter you want to use. The filter rotates into the light path and securely clicks into place in line with your diagonal or camera. The filter positions are numbered on the knurled dial so you can keep track of which filter is next in line.

The design of the Orion filter wheel protects your filters from dust, dirt, and impact. It requires an additional 20mm of back focus.