I havent had the chance to try my SE8 on the moon. It hasn't been in my view at all for the past few days but if I feel I need a filter, I'll certainly get one.
I did wanna say after 3 straight days of playing with my starsense to align which it did but never perfectly, last night I looked for Mars for about 30 minutes all over the scope based on the initial alignment area and found it. After calibration, I was able to find Jupiter, its moons and Saturn. Such an amazing experience seeing these planets through your own eyes, it was well worth standing out on my deck in 30 degree weather to look at some planets. I added the 2x barlow and started playing with the zoom. For Mars, I couldnt see much red, really a bright yellow circle ball. With Jupiter I was able to see its 4 big moons but couldnt find any bands when looking at Jupiter, maybe with more practice playing with different zooms and focus? Saturn was the best, I could see it pretty clearly and its rings, truly fascinating! The one lens I got that allows me to adjust from 24mm to 4mm does make a big difference and adding the 2x barlow enhances the experience. People did say more magnification doesnt always give a better image which I also agree with. I'm in a rural area of Maryland so light pollution is high, I'm sure that's also a factor for not seeing more clearer images but it's a start. Just happy to be able to see things! 😄