Does A Bright Moon Ruin Your View Of The Stars?

[Zaine UK]

I'd imagine it would. The moon was very bright last night and it was a very clear sky. I couldn't see as many stars as i normally could. If you were planning on going out to just look at stars would you wait for a moonless night?

[Starlight 1]

Its not good to have a bright Moon but you have to take all the clear nights as you can and come back to have a look at the Moon last thing before packing up for the night.

[hemihaggis]

[Daniel-K]

i honestly don't mind the moon until it gets past half way and completely destroys the surrounding sky. i was still able to pick up m82 and 81 to though

[brantuk]

A full moon will wash out a lot of galaxies with extraneous light (and to various degrees through it's phases). I leave moongazing to the end of a session cos the light wrecks your eyes dark adaption. It can be dimmed down with filters and/or by reducing your aperture by replacing the main tube cap and removing the small offset cap - if you have one)

[Shibby]

An actual full moon certainly makes things tricky - better off sticking to lunar & planetary observing. However, the brightness of the moon dramatically changes based on its illumination. Believe it or not, a moon at 50% phase is only 8% as bright as a full moon! This effect is due to the way the cratered surface reflects sunlight - or more to the point, does not when the sun is casting lots of shadows across the surface. The day before a full moon, the brightness is around 75% that of the full moon.

[barkis]

I know my right eye has developed it's own moon filter from years of lunar observing. At least I'm sure that is the reason for the dimmer views I get, compared to my left eye.

Even allowing plenty of time for pupil dilation in the dark, there is a definite difference comparing the brightness of a particular star.

Lot's of visits to the opticians when assessing changes for new specs. don't reveal any deterioration of note, other than that attributed to Aging .

Ron.

[umadog]

Generally I don't observe DSOs when the moon is half full or greater. It's not a big problem when it's between about 1/4 to 1/2 full (either waxing or waning) since then it either sets fairly early or rises fairly late. New moon is better still, of course.

[RikM]

I'm just starting to play with lunar / planetary imaging again, so I have something to do on moonlit nights when it's clear. I am, in general, not a big fan of the moon but if that's all you've got to look at then why not?

[Karen]

I just concentrate on the planets and moon when it is up. The faint stuff can wait for moonless nights. Good job the Earth has only one moon.