First Look At The Moon.

[Lowstar]

Tonight, like most nights since i got my Dob:rolleyes:, was totally overcast. I had a walk round the scope a few times as you do when i noticed the wind had picked up. Even higher up in the sky it seemed positively gale - like with clouds racing across the sky. Soon the gaps appeared followed by stars and then a bright glow where the moon obviously was. OH HAPPY DAY`S i thought:hello2: I hadn`t saw the moon through the Skyquest and as i popped in the 25mm eyepiece and centred the finderscope i knew this was going very,very bright.

In it came to focus and i must say i was impressed. Lots of detail from the standard Orion eyepiece. I put in the Orion Shorty Barlow, refocused and was blown away by the craters, surface scaring and sheer immensity of the thing. Tried a few filters next and they worked fine giving contrast and cutting down the intensity of light reflecting back off the surface although none of the filters i have is a dedicated moon filter as such. So all in all a very hectic few minutes. The cloud came back again but just as it did a meterorite zipped across the sky, bits dropping off, from east to west (9.56pm plus minus a minute or two) . Perfect end to the evenings viewing really.

Hope some of you got a few gaps in the cloud;)

Will.

[Taff]

Hi Will' i agree the moon is a nice thing to look at when you start seeing things on different nights.You will never for get your first time, nice one.Mark

[dobserver]

Since my Neutral Density filter arrived a couple of days ago I naturally haven't had the chance to try it out yet!

I have tried viewing the moon without the filter but I find it just too blinding in the 12" dob.

Your enthusiasm has made me yearn to try it out even more......

Steph