The moon and a dark site?

[Manok101]

Is a full moon just as bad at a dark stie as it is nearer the city? I can see little enough with the unaided eye as it is, and a moon makes looking at anything but stars near impossible around here, so I was wondering, since I don't have access to a regular dark site is the difference with a moon and without just as noticeable?

[Mr Q]

At a dark sky site with no air pollution, the Moon can be full and you can still see a lot of the brighter DSOs but without a Moon, there will be so many stars you will find it hard to make out the most obvious constellations.

So somehow get to a dark sky site - after the first trip there you will be coming back for sure

[JamesF]

I'm at a relatively dark site and I find that whilst the moon is in the sky it's not too bad if I'm observing in the "other half" of the sky. It still does wash out quite a lot of sky which might not be so bad if you're using a GOTO, but when you're star-hopping it becomes difficult. If the air is moist the effect is worse as the moisture seems to scatter the light far more.

If there's no moon the sky is as Mr Q says, so full of stars it that takes some work to find many of the constellations. The bonus is being able to see objects such as Andromeda Galaxy and the Beehive Cluster with the naked eye (not to mention the Milky Way itself).

Of course, the moon is well worth observing in its own right

James