Viewing planets

[Terryap]

Had a good view of Mars and Saturn last night, however they were so bright that if there was any detail to be seen I could not see it. As a very newbie is there an appropriate filter I can/should use to reduce the brightness? I do have a Moon filter but did not think to try that at the time - would it help?

[brianb]

If you're getting issues from glare, yes, it's worth trying a moon filter. A lightish neutral density one is likely to be more helpful than a dark heavily coloured one (especially on Mars, when green is a detail hider).

But most of us don't find the brightness excessive if a sensible magnification is used - 25x to 30x per inch of aperture is about right.