Magnification and filters for Moon

[Smoore]

Managed to look at the Moon last night, was using a 10" dobsonian (Lightbridge), a 12.5mm eyepiece and a 3x barlow lens to achieve ~300 magnification, This was very sharp and showing stunning detail. What I did then was try adding a cheap 1.5x barlow lens that came with a cheaper telescope into this as well to try x450.

I really wasn't expecting results from this as I know the atmosphere restricts magnification and this setup for x450 wasn't ideal, to my suprise I was able to get a very good focus still, not as sharp as the x300 but still good and the new size definately outweighed the slight loss of sharpness by far.

So this makes me wonder now just how far can the Moon be pushed? Does the Moon take magnification better than other objects or did I have a very stable sky? I always thought x450 was a stretch for the atmosphere. And I'm guessing the double barlow (one of them a light cheap one) isn't the most ideal way to achieve this, I don't have a real setup for this much magnification as I never thought I could justify it, the planets seem to be at their threshold or too much at x300.

Another thing is playing around with colour filters I found stacking red and yellow filters together made a massive difference to the detai I could see, much more than just a neutral density filter. I've been hearing yellow filter brings out more detail but to be honest I just can't get along with using yellow filter alone on the Moon, I don't know why. Just wondering on other peoples thoughts on different filters and what might be worth trying. Is red and yellow together theoretically effective or is this just me?

Thanks for any input.

[PeterW]

I use a yellow filter on my achromat. 120x is the most i push as the floaters in my eye get too obvious above this. Interesting to hear how far you couls push things. I prefer to keep the image bright with high contrast makes things 'jump out' more.

PEterW

[BazMark]

I was blown away last night by crisp views of the moon at 250x with my Skymax 127 and a 6mm TS planetary HR EP. I didn't think to try the barlow, probably because I was so wowed by the views as they were. The views of the mountain ranges and craters along the terminator were stunning.

I used a variable polarizing filter for the first time on the moon to good effect.

Clear Skies,

Mark

[Talitha]

From my experience, the amount of magnification you can use on the Moon is totally at the mercy of the seeing (assuming your scope's cooled down properly). On extremely steady nights i've used 'stupid power' (622x, 8" SCT) and found it to be very comparable to my normal cruising speed of 222x.

The only filter i use with the SCT is a red one, for daytime observations.. it cuts the baby blue glow and kicks up the contrast, making things easier to see. When using the 120 achro, i've (surprisingly) found that a yellow filter helps cut the CA just as much as my William optics VR-1 does.

[Smoore]

Thanks for the input, I do like to use less magnification a lot as well (100-200) but its also nice to get close up at times.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks for the input, I do like to use less magnification a lot as well (100-200) but its also nice to get close up at times.

My usual setup for observing the moon is my 130P (f/l 650,F5) with a 20mm EP (i do enjoy the beauty of a wide FOV). However it IS nice at times to get upclose and personal so i find that i really am allowed to use a 6mm EP with my 130P. The Gods smile on me at times and i can add a TAL 2x barlow to the equation converting my 6mm EP into a 3mm EP.

So does that work out 216X? (650mm/6mmX2=216)

That really is my scopes limit on the moon.

Impressive views. I feel like i am hovering a few miles above the surface. Pity my scope is a Dob..................so i really cant take images of what i am seeing at the EP.