Harvest moon too bright?

[Lowen22]

Hi guys, I went out to view the harvest moon with my 200p dobsonian and it seemed too bright! I could see hardly any detail, is this normal? Sorry, I'm quite new to all

[Lowen22]

* of this.

[greglloyd]

Hi. You won't see much detail at full moon. This is because the moon is opposite the sun in the sky and therefore no shadows are cast (from our point of view) on the surface. This makes detail hard to see.

It's best to view the moon during crescent to gibbous stage when strong shadows are present. You will then be blown away by the detail in a 200p!

[SparrowsEYE]

Try a moon filter. That should cut down the brightness and improve contrast.

My 2 bits

[JamesF]

When it's close to full the Moon can be bright to the point where it's almost painful to look at.  Mostly I think that's because your eyes are dark-adapted as looking at the same Moon during the day doesn't seem to be anywhere near as bad.  You eye will cope given time to adjust, but trying to walk around afterwards with one fully dark-adapted eye and one that's closed up to a pinhole from looking at the Moon can be quite a weird experience.  A decent Moon filter can make life easier if you do want to view the Moon when it is near full.  There are adjustable ones, but I've not been that impressed with them.

James

[Lowen22]

Great advice, thanks to all!

[stevend]

I do not usually view full moons, but it is a supermoon so why not ? One good thing about full moons is that you get good views of the crater rays from the likes of Tyco etc, but it is best to keep magnification low - on the full supermoon I found after using the 8mm that my pupil was so constricted that I thought I was wearing a patch when I looked away.

[knobby]

Or as a free, tacky alternative ... sunglasses 

[John]

One of the key characteristics of a good filter is that it is optically flat and polished and coated to a good standard so that it does not introduce any unwanted optical abberations itself. I've not seen many sunglasses with optically flat lenses - most seem to have a curved surface.

[knobby]

But so is your eye ... And I did say free tacky ...

[John]

But so is your eye ... And I did say free tacky ...

Fair point

I meant it more as a query really. 

[stevend]

Or as a free, tacky alternative ... sunglasses 

Sunglasses ? It was so bright on Monday I asked my wife to get the moon tan lotion.

[mitchelln]

It's much dimmer when it's cloudy

[knobby]

Fair point

I meant it more as a query really.

hi John ... Wasn't being argumentative, its just the cheeky Essex boy in me keeps taking over .

And yes , you're correct , a decent filter should be flat and glare free but for looking at a bright moon I find sunglasses help and u already have some so costs nothing