Keeping night vision whilst viewing the moon

[ITFC_Sam]

Had an interesting but potentially stupid thought last night. I always instinctively use my right eye for observing everything but of course the moon ruins any night vision gained. If I were to use my left eye for the moon would that leave my right eye's dark adaption unharmed and allow me to view faint objects immediately afterwards?

[Naemeth]

Had an interesting but potentially stupid thought last night. I always instinctively use my right eye for observing everything but of course the moon ruins any night vision gained. If I were to use my left eye for the moon would that leave my right eye's dark adaption unharmed and allow me to view faint objects immediately afterwards?

If you closed your right eye, then yes. Alternatively, you could use a Moon filter (for smaller telescopes) or a Dark Red filter (for scopes larger than 8").

[andyman]

i use a variable polarizing moon filter its like two joined together and when you twist it adjusts the amount of light passing through so you can set it to your own preference

[Tim]

The moon can stuff your night vision just by being there!

[steveb1977]

The Moon wipes out a lot of deep sky objects so i normally stick to the planets when its there, and the Moon itself.

[Moonshane]

I think there would be a difference between the eyes but suspect from experience that your pupils work together to some extent no matter how much you keep your eye closed. in other words, your closed eye will be more dark adapted than your open eye but not as adapted as it would be if you were not observing the moon.

[earth titan]

i use a variable polarizing moon filter its like two joined together and when you twist it adjusts the amount of light passing through so you can set it to your own preference

+1 for the variable polarizer.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[ITFC_Sam]

Doh!

Can't believe it never occurred to me to buy a moon filter, just ordered one.

While I'm here here's what I got when I put my phone up to the eyepiece. Turned out much clearer than I expected!

[Stargazer_00]

The moon at half phase sets my low magnitude at about 7 th magnitude so most stuff is gone. Good Job I enjoy clusters