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I've quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the moon

Radiolysis

By Radiolysis
in Observing - Discussion

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Mad Taff

Mad Taff

Posted
Posted

I don't know if it's fate or luck or whatever but it seems that whenever I get clear skies and the time to observe, the moon is out there somewhere. I have since grown to enjoy observing the moon and planets and also the brighter DSOs. I will have to work harder this winter in making myself more available when there is a clear moonless sky and take on those fainter DSOs.

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Fozzie

Fozzie

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The moons a fantastic object to view, it takes good magnification and is full of features..

Also you don't have to go flying off to dark sites in order to get reasonable viewing in either..

Try the luna 100 list, gives a sense of satisfaction knowing you've achieved something..

I quite like to use the list along with an android moon app that gives me all the names, and also links to Wikipedia so I can actually read about the geography of the features, how they formed and what else to look out for.. gives it bit more uuummmmph to the observing..

I've added the luna 100 and also a list of another 100 items to look out for....

Lunar_100_map.pdfLunar_100_sheets.pdf100-150 old.xls150-200 old.xls

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Fozzie

Fozzie

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Thanks for the link. I've been looking at the moon every night I've been out because she always looks gorgeous. May have come across more frustrated then intended :).

Haha maybe! I guess frustration should be saved for street lights and security lights that really wipe out those faint fuzzy delights.. at least the moon will give something back!

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DeepSkyBagger

DeepSkyBagger

Posted
Posted

As far as deep-sky observing goes, the Moon sucks. As SteveB72 suggests, stellar targets are your best bet. Open clusters (not as interesting as fuzzies, at least to me) give you something to go at. You might also try for some planetary nebulae. Only the most boring, near-stellar ones though. Anything extended gets swamped with a fat moon.  :sad:

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dick_dangerous

dick_dangerous

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This year , clear skies = Moon.

I'm glad it's not me who's noticed this curious correlation! I doubt any physical factor is coming into play here other than Murphy's Law, and I've had a lot of clouded out nights this year, but had I wanted to observe the full moon then I don't think there was a month when I would have been disappointed! Full moon is Thursday and it's clear, clear, clear tomorrow when it'll be as good as full...

The full moon is only really interesting to the naked eye - it just gets a bit glarey in the telescope, although depending on the libration you can catch glimpses of the "Dark" side at this time. Learning to love the moon is one of my missions in astronomical life - that and grabbing any clear skies that come along when the moon isn't around! You can guarantee that those will be when I'm going out for dinner / at the cinema / in the middle of deer cull though. C'est la vie! I've managed some really good sessions when I've had the opportunity, pushed my equipment to the limit in an urban setting and failing that managed to take both 'scopes somewhere properly dark.

DD

DD

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jabeoo1

jabeoo1

Posted
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This year , clear skies = Moon.

Your double star enthusiasm is becoming contagious & compulsory for this very reason.  Alberio and the double double are fascinating to me these days.  I regularly follow your reports and aim to make some lists from them, I have noted the 'winter Alberio' as a target opportunity.     

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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I had gave up on observing when the moon is near full despite it always seeming to be clear when it's the case. My solution was the Phillips moon observers guide (when I had to make the items up to 3 for free postage at Astroboot :D) and it adds that bit more interest to looking at the moon now.

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