Moon Filter...worth buying?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Wrong way round Michael. The moon has maximum surface brightness with the naked eye alone, but total light can be more entering the scope..

You are right. What I meant to say is that it has a smaller surface brightness in the scope, as compared to the naked eye. The total brightness in the telescope image is higher however, and that is what influences dark adaptation most. My point is that it is differences in dark adaptation between the eyes which are most troublesome.

[bomberbaz]

I use a variable polarysing filter and its the bees knees. I find detail is much easier to pick out and the contrast is greatly improved. I also have an nd13 filtwr which i find less effective on full/ near full moon but much better when its kind of halfway house. A little bright on the eye but not too bright for the vpf. The vpf goes from 40% light to just 1%.

[Moonshane]

hey! there's room for everyone on the astro train

[LeeB]

One other point , I have a the odd floater in my normal observing eye and using a filter helps with that as the pupil can stay a little larger. (ps. I training the other eye for planets and high mag at the moment)

[chiltonstar]

I use one now after having had a couple of visual migraines induced by Moon viewing sessions, due either the relative brightness of the Moon to adapted vision, or maybe by the fact that one eye was looking at something very bright and the other near darkness.

Chris

[rwilkey]

i prefer to use ND Moon filters myself, as i find the brightness of the Moon distracting through my telescopes, I find the fixed density much less faff that a polarising filter, I use the 13% (ND96 0.09) Baader and the 25% (ND25) Lumicon as preferences.

[m37]

+1 for the variable moon filter. Takes the edge off nicely.

[helicalwave]

I have a Sky-Watcher Explorer 200p which is about a month old. The weather was cloudy, but I was able to get the odd, brief view of the moon without a filter, with the moon about 50% full. I have since gone out and got a Sky-Watcher Variable Polarising Filter, which has two polarised filters that can be rotated to enable from 1% - 40% reduction in light transmission. Of course the moon has been nowhere to be seen since I got the filter, so I cannot speak for its efficacy. But the notion that you can dial down the light to suit the conditions and your own eye sensitivity is appealing. This is where I got it. http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/Products/Sky-Watcher_Variable_Polarizin.html