Viewing the moon with binoculars

[Paul Riley]

Is it possible to view the moon via binos with special moon filters to reduce glare,thereby increasing detail? The reason I ask is powerful binoculars x15 and above may also magnify the glare more?

And could you point me to a good pair of filters in the process?

Thanks

[pvaz]

I don't know any filters but you can try sun glasses.

The problem with the glare is due to the aperture (70mm with 15x70s). The more you magnify something the dimmer it gets. 15x is not enough to make any difference, bu it's easily noticeable with a scope as you change eyepieces.

[Paul Riley]

I don't know any filters but you can try sun glasses.

The problem with the glare is due to the aperture (70mm with 15x70s). The more you magnify something the dimmer it gets. 15x is not enough to make any difference, bu it's easily noticeable with a scope as you change eyepieces.

Thanks for that.

[brianb]

The surface brightness is proportional to the aperture and inversely proportional to the magnification ... 70/15 = 4.67 (to the nearest hundredth), 50/10 = 5 so the surface brightness of the Moon (or anything else for that matter) is actually a bit less in 15x70s than it is in 10x50s. Of course the illuminated area is larger.

You could try mounting photographic neutral density filters over the objectives. ND x 8 (12.5% transmission) should work reasonably well. However I should point out that binoculars are not the best instruments for observing the Moon as they rarely have the combination of high power and optical perfection required to see small details ... a birdwatchers / target shooters spotting scope is likely to work much better, and a small, cheap astronomical telescope will be better still.

[Paul Riley]

The surface brightness is proportional to the aperture and inversely proportional to the magnification ... 70/15 = 4.67 (to the nearest hundredth), 50/10 = 5 so the surface brightness of the Moon (or anything else for that matter) is actually a bit less in 15x70s than it is in 10x50s. Of course the illuminated area is larger.

You could try mounting photographic neutral density filters over the objectives. ND x 8 (12.5% transmission) should work reasonably well. However I should point out that binoculars are not the best instruments for observing the Moon as they rarely have the combination of high power and optical perfection required to see small details ... a birdwatchers / target shooters spotting scope is likely to work much better, and a small, cheap astronomical telescope will be better still.

Thanks brianb,

I will let you know how I go the first chance I get to see ANYTHING,the clouds have been pretty thick (Sheffield,S.Yorks) the last few nights and last night was VERY windy (easily gale force!) with heavy rain.Not the best conditions.

I cant wait to get a glimpse of the Pleiades as well as the moon,I have wanted to see those 7 gems for a long time now.

Paul.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The fact that you mentioned the "glare" of the Moon leads me to think that you are observing it even when it is near full?.

No argument that it is indeed BRIGHT when nearing full or just past it. This is also the time when there is very little detail or contrast to be seen on the lunar surface. I dont want to say that during this phase that the moon is boring because the moon is never boring to observe.

You could use sunglasses as Paulo suggested or you could stop down the apeture of the bins by cutting a sheet of cardboard to fit across the front of the bins and then cutting two holes over the lenses of say about 50mm. This would take the apeture of the bins from 70mm to 50mm which means less light being transmitted from the lenses to your eyes. This will reduce the glare but by how much i dont know.

Easiest solution is to just keep observing the moon with the bins and after a couple of sessions your eyes will adapt and get used to the glare.

Moonlight can not and does not cause any lasting damage to your eyes. It just means that after observing the bright moon for a while that you then have to let your eyes become dark adapted again before you start observing other celestial objects.

As has been said above.......bins can only offer you a certain magnification. Thats GREAT even when observing the Moon but even a small apeture scope such as a 70mm refractor opens up a whole new world (so to speak) because with different EP's you can increase the magnification and really start to see very small surface detail.

The same scope is also very useful for many other objects and can be bought for about £100.

I recently bought a Celestron Travelscope70 for about a hundred euros to take with me on my travels,but the scope is so light and portable it is fast becoming the work horse of my scope collection...........even though i have larger apeture scopes.

It really is my "Grab n Go" scope............even when compared to my SW Heritage 130P.