Nobody told me the moon would be so bright

[the lemming]

There was enough broken cloud cover over the weekend to give me a view of the full moon with my telescope. And I have to say that it was an eye watering experience and not in a comfortable way either.

Maybe its time for my first filter.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions for my first filter?

Cheers

[Spec-Chum]

You got any sunglasses buddy?

And no, I'm not joking...

[sparkyjon]

you can pick up a moon filter from ebay for around £10 i'm not certain how good they are , i hope they are ok for viewing as i've bought a moon and light pollution one...lol

[Spec-Chum]

I don't use mine anymore, prefer the unfiltered view.

[DannyHarvey]

I looked at it for 2 seconds unfiltered the other night and ended up with a bright image imprint in my vision for about 5 minutes, so I decide to hook up the DSLR instead!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I did without a moon filter for years, but now I use an Orion Optics 2" filters (looks like a rebranded Baader one). Good piece of glass. I would not go for the very cheapest ones, they tend to be horrible plastic greenish affairs which degrade the image quality. I think all you need is a 1.25" filter. The Baader one is supposed to be good and can be had for £25 here:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/baader-neutral-density-moon-filters.html

[Mezolitik]

I bought a Celestron filter off Amazon for a few quid. It does the job, but it turns the Moon green, which isn't very nice.

The Moon isn't green.

[stem1989]

does your dust cap not have a small hole that can be removed instead of the whole thing, this helps significantly reduce glare. A moon filter is the other option but Im not a massive fan of the cheap ones, well mine seems to add a greeny yellow tint but cant afford a really good one

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Using a reduced aperture reduces the resolution along with brightness. For good detail a moon filter is the best solution.

[perrin6]

Using a higher magnification will make it more tolerable to view. I don't even use a filter when looking at the moon at 93X on my 350mm newtonian in fact the high light levels allow subtle colour to be seen eg in the area around Aristarchus.

[paul schofield]

I never use a moon filter as I prefer the un-filtered view. It takes a bit of getting used to the brightness but I prefer it that way. The only thing I find is after viewing for a while I can walk away from the scope and still see moons in front of me. Does not help the night vision much either.

[Donkeiller]

I use a variable polarising filter- you can dial in as much "shading" as you want and it is

essentially colour-neutral.

Wouldn't look at the Moon without one.

[dephelis]

I did without a moon filter for years, but now I use an Orion Optics 2" filters (looks like a rebranded Baader one). Good piece of glass. I would not go for the very cheapest ones, they tend to be horrible plastic greenish affairs which degrade the image quality. I think all you need is a 1.25" filter. The Baader one is supposed to be good and can be had for £25 here:

http://www.firstligh...on-filters.html

+1 on this, you should get the 0.9 filter for your size aperture. The filter will really improve the contrast of the view, especially when observing a full moon.

[Grotemobile]

http://www.firstligh...oon-filter.html

This is what you need, as Donkeiller said.

Steve.

[John]

Using a reduced aperture reduces the resolution along with brightness. For good detail a moon filter is the best solution.

Absolutely. Why pay for a scope of X aperture and then reduce it to a much smaller one !

I don't use one myself but a good quality filter is a much better way to go, if you feel the need to reduce the brightness.

[rwilkey]

An ND96 (0.9) is a good filter, gives 13% light transmission, which I find just right.

[astrofox]

Easy to forget the moon is in the full glare of the sun plust we tend to look wityh dark adapted eyes. My baader moon filter is essential for me unless I have cranked the magnification up high (>x150)

[JD75]

After having my first proper look at it the other evening, and noticing the 'beam' of light coming out of the eyepiece, I feel a moon filter will be on my shopping list in the not too distant future. I found it fine to observe though, but couldn't see a flippin' thing afterwards!

[Mondlicht13]

I use a Baader Neodymium Filter. This not only enhances contrast looking at the moon but cuts some of the streetlight pollution .

[jgs001]

I have one, but have never really used it... I found, that it was so much easier reading my books, sketching etc using a nice bright white camping lantern when viewing the moon, that I never got dark adapted in the first place. The only time I've had an issue, was when I had the opportunity, after getting dark adapted of looking at the moon through a 15" scope, the views were simply breathtaking, as was walking into the next person in line, cos I couldn't see anything ...

[Gary70]

I bought a Celestron filter off Amazon for a few quid. It does the job, but it turns the Moon green, which isn't very nice.

The Moon isn't green.

Maybe since it It is made of cheese

The FLO moon filter is decent and does a good job though.

[Champagnerocker]

I bought a Celestron filter off Amazon for a few quid. It does the job, but it turns the Moon green, which isn't very nice.

The Moon isn't green.

You need to wait for it to ripen.