Moon joy.

[foundaplanet]

Finally I am able to view the Moon from my back yard due to an AZ4 for my frac. Without planting the dob in the pond and due to the height of the neighbours shrubbery it hasn't really been much of an option until now bar a small gap between the shed and a Cherry tree. So now I hope I will be able to spend some time with it and learn a few more feature names.

I am wondering what peoples favourite mag and maybe even choice of scope is for lunar obs. On having recently got a couple of 68' ep's I was finding that the 24mm in my f11 Lyra frac (47x) was giving me the most pleasing view I have ever had, so much so that I was glued to every opportunity between the clouds. My newt I have always found blinding, even with a filter yet last night I was viewing very comfortably without a filter.

[nightfisher]

depends on the phase of the moon and conditions, a nice half moon in good conditions and i will often to to about 150 x mag or a little higher, i have been known to go to 300x but thats a little silly, the luna surface is a right place to explore

[Qualia]

I love looking at the Moon with the 10" and a Delos 10mm in the slot . That's a mag of around 125x with the entire moon in the field of view. Absolutely stunning. I'm not sure who said looking at a full moon was boring or the worse time to view the moon, but I know they're wrong If I want to narrow the portrait, I'll use an ortho and either the 9mm or 7mm.

With the 4" on the AZ4 and the Tal's screw diagonal I don't like using the Delos for a number of reasons, so prefer the views with the 15mm TVP which frames the moon perfectly at a magnification of about 65x and then for closer inspection using the 9mm, 7mm or 6mm BGOs giving a working range of about 110x, 140x, and 160x.

Sometimes though it is just lovely to sit back and see the Moon framed by the night sky, perhaps by other stars or Saturn or lazily watch it drift by at around 40x.