How To Get The Best Views Of The Moon 

I just bought a new 130mm reflector, and the first night I was trying it, i had been looking at the stars and Saturn. After an hour, the moon had popped up, and I swing the scope onto it. I had to pull my eye away from the scope, and it was similar to when you quickly stare at the sun, just with your eyes, not thru a scope. I was rubbing my eye for ages, and I had a bright spot in my vision for around 15 mins. Another great vid m8.

I just want to go to the pub and buy this man a brew and talk telescopes. Thank you Jason!

Excellent Jason. I love the way you don't bother to edit out any slight accidents that may occur during your filming ! You are perfectly imperfect, just like the rest of us. It's one of the charms of your channel. You've taught me something new, as always. I used to see the moon as my enemy, like a 100 watt lightbulb messing up my Bortle 5 sky ! I've changed my point of view.... Thanks. Keep helping us newbies out.

I like your videos! Fun fact. Staring at the moon through telescope (even large aperture) is less bright than staring at the side of a white building during the day when the sun is reflecting off of it. The main difference is exactly as you described. Being dark adapted makes your eyes up to 100 million times more sensitive to light than they are during the day. Sensory overload happens but does no real damage to your eyes. (some people actually claim to "feel pain" due to this defensive reaction and are afraid it is damaging their eyes, when in fact it is perfectly safe) Some astronomers prefer to just let their eyes de-dark-adapt (it takes time) - and this gets you past the "defensive mode" you speak of here. At that point, you can resolve even finer details than you would with a filter blocking some of the light and reducing detail in the darker/shaded areas of the moons surface.

I love how calm and softspoken this guy is.. Lots of information to grasp from him.. Kudos

This guy is giving me 'Astronomy and Nature TV' vibes. Calm and relaxing video. (:

Great job Jason, when you mentioned looking at the moon when its not a full moon, you will be able to see the contrast of the craters

Nice one Jason, another great episode on the gravity demonstration channel lol I always point folks towards the polarising variety of Moon filter, and splitting it between the diagonal and eyepiece is a great hack!

Mak 127 > polarising filter set up at both ends of the diagonal and you're off :) Spent the other night with a map and an 8mm eyepiece i and just spotting craters and valley in and around the Mare Serenitatis! I love to pick certain areas of the moon (depending on illumination) and just study...

Again, thanks for another great and informational video, Jason!

I just got my first telescope and your videos have helped me so much. 👌 Your videos are very helpful

Love your videos Jason, new to astronomy, and new to this channel!, subbed up! cheers for all your excellent vids, Paul, Dublin

Great video and great tips on using Moon filters . I’m going to use this information as soon as we have a clear sky. So helpful. Kind regards.

Great video, already ordered one while listening!

Learnt so much from you Jason. Really appreciate your hard work. Thanks... Astronomy newbie 😁

Excellent information Jason, 👌 thank you

Totally agree, very important point! One of my first views of the moon was with a 6" SCT during a full moon, and that view was downright painful! I couldn't look at it for more than a few seconds. A little $20 moon filter fixed that right up.

Great video Jason, I purchased my filter in this very moment.

Certainly is Jason the first time I looked at a full moon thru an 8inch DOB nearly blew my eyes out. The variables are great like you say. 👍

Thanks a lot Jason. It is so convincing that I ordered a polarizing filter while watching your video. Exactly when you said: 'do it now' :)

Thank you so much, Jason. You've presented a lot of information in a very enjoyable video!

No moon in the sky here for a bit. Skymaps says it's beside the sun, so hopefully soon I will be able to use these tips!!! Thanks!! Loving it!

Fabulous! Thank you Jason, I’ve learned a lot here. Actually, I’ve learned more from you that most others on RU-vid 🔭

Am binge watching your vids. They’re my goto!🇬🇧👍

Thank you jason for this helpful (and funny😂) video, I’ll definitely order a polarizing filter soon. Btw i love this channel because it’s dedicated to beginners astronomers just like me 👍🏻 keep up the good work

Thank you Jason your help has been of essential help for me a beginner ..love your videos

Some of the most beautiful views I've ever had of the moon.Or was a neutral density filter and small crescent.

I was becoming very dissapointed with the video, but , at 16: 30 you came through and dropped a piece , Bravo LOL

Hi Jason - when I went to Egypt I saw loads of stars through the same telescope I have now - I was wondering what eye piece you think would be best to see galaxies?? I have a Celestron 8SE - amazing but not getting the result I want - thank you all!! Jason, keep putting videos on - they help so much and you know so much its insane!! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge

Great Video Jason! The Moon is a Forgiving Target To Image and Observe always!👍🏻🌕🔭

I love your videos, they are such a good introduction to astronomy. I didn't fully understand collimation until I saw one of your videos :). I also bought the red line 68 eyepieces based on your review. I do have one point as feedback. When mentioning the aperture stops, please add that it limits the resolution. So it may be OK for viewing the full moon, but not so much about high power views of craters and such.

Great channel!!!

Great info thxs

Great video ...thanks

Going to apply all the tricks and tips when I next see the moon😃

Great video jay yet again. You have grown so fast. I remember when you first started this RU-vid channel and now look how many subscribers you have. Every comment you get is always positive and it just shows you how much everyone appreciates all the hard work you put in. Keep up the good work 🙌

I took your advise and got a variable polarizing filter. What a difference!! Thank You!!

The sudden light actually bleaches out the rhodopsin (visual purple) to a great extent. The only thing you can do is filter it out the intense light before it happens or - sadly - wait to fully night adapt again (which can take from 30 to 45 minutes).

Moonlight itself (when not full) is itself polarized. The plane of polarization changes as the moons phase changes.

Hey Jason. To be completely honest, I don’t mind not using a filter. My eyes are always fully dark adapted before looking at the moon, and unless it’s a full moon or nearly there’s I’m ok with viewing it without a filter. I have a pretty good filter, and it just makes the moon more dramatic and darker, nothing spectacular. Personal preference I guess. Also, I was afraid you weren’t going to drop your eyepiece (or something else for that matter). You did!! Great video as always Jason 😆

Great insight for addressing the filters on several eye pieces 👍 I wear glasses hence I use an optician for my prescription changes . My optician is gracious enough to make tinted lens for my telescope for a few extra dollars 👍

Thank you Jason very helpful, what is also good to know is, if you have a 100 mm acramatic refractor which is generally 1000 mm focal length or F10, and you remove the centrepiece of your dust cover as Jason has shown you depending on the diameter of the hole you increase the f ratio of your telescope, the ideal ratio for an acramatic refractor to remove false colour is an F-15, the false colour increases when the ratio decreases, this is also known as a fast telescope or a slow telescope, fast being F5 slow being F10 upwords, if you have an F10 refractor and the centre whole is around 75 mm you now have an f13 refractor, which reduces the false colour, if you have a 66 mm centre whole you now have an F-15 refractor, which eliminates all false colour, it is interesting to use different centre holes to see how the false colour reduces, apart from viewing the moon as Jason has said, to see the effect it has on the planets that you are observing giving it a more pleasing view, you may see more detailed reducing the colour even though aperture is also reduced, if you don't have a dust cover with a removable centrepiece then you can easily make one out of cardboard, and you can make the whole any size you desire, but make sure it is black and flat black not gloss black it is less reflective, this would be perhaps a fun thing to try to enhance your scoping pleasure of the planets and also of double stars which really stand out when false colour is removed when using high powers, happy scoping,🤗

I've ordered my variable polarising filter. Can't wait to see a better moon 🌚

Best channel for beginner astrophotographers❤️❤️❤️

Hi, Thanks for this Info! I was dreaming all my life about and i bought today my first Teleskop Dobson 152/1200. Omegon bariable pollfilter too. And yeah every single Item was risky, because i have no clue about. Yes i read something, i watch videos, but practically… i never used a Teleskop yet. Im 37 now and im ready to start. Im happy to get now something like confirmation, that this peace for 50€ will be Worth 😀 🥳 I like your videos. Understandable with lot of Passion. Greeting from German Black Forest

Great video. Loved the tip about separating the variable. I would just hold the variable on top of the eyepiece, set it to my preferance and then screw it back on the eyepiece but your tip is much better. Thank you from Ontario Canada. A Coronation Street fan. Shhhhh :-)

Thanks mate for great video

Howdy there Jason. Just came across this very fun and informative video on crusing the Big Dipper. I just got my push to system working half AZ and ALT. WORKING OK. Found m101 with no problem. Only problem is my alt.decoder is 1 degree low😂. It puts objects in the field of view constantly though. Have bin hunting that elusive owl for sometime now. Will give it a go with or without a battery for my reader. Take care and clear skys from da bayous.

BRILLIANT JASON CHEERS

Thank you for putting me right with best filter to use the moon. Never liked the green filter and just viewed the moon without any filter at all. Looking forward to viewing with a polarizing filter, which I hope will stop me squinting like a Cheshire cat.

That's great information. I think that with much online content being directed at deep sky astronomy, it's a shame we have lost some appreciation of our nearest celestial neighbor. I like the adjustable polarising filter, it certainly looks like the ideal moon filter solution for any aperture and eyepiece.

Great video!

Ok then I will get a filter. At least I have my burlow T adapter ready with a T ring so I can observe the moon with my nikon until then. Not optimal but I get to take pics (hopefully). Your videos provide great information!

Thank u my friend ...

I love the idea of splitting the filter for the 'eyepiece-spin-trick' but here's my question: I have an 8" dobsonian with a 2" eyepiece holder but all my powerfull eyepieces are 1,24 I use with an adapter. So do you think it would work if I bought 1 of each (2"+1,25") variable filters so I can screw the 2" filter on the adapter and the 1'25" on the eyepiece? Because this is just the greatest hack EVER Love your videos by the way

Thank you.👍🤗

Hey Jason I must admit I've never used moon filter and I've been looking at the moon since getting binoculars back in 1988. I'm not really a moon observer but I do like seeing it through binoculars and telescopes. I have a Camcorder and zoom right up to moon and gives me great views of moon. I've made videos of the Moon with Camcorder. Great info on moon filters so I'm going to try this out. Careful not to drop things as I'm always dropping things myself. Funny it was and you were cheerful about it! Time to time I do like viewing the moon and I must admit I only know few craters etc. I know there are few astronomers who hate the moon. I love seeing total lunar eclipses which I seen a few and it's so good to see them. Sir Patrick Moore was one of the greatest lunar observers and an expert on mapping the moon and it's his favourite object in the entire night sky. Thanks very much for this very interesting video and stay safe buddy!

Another good video Dropping eyepieces is your thing 😀

Great vid. Bugger!!! The only moon filter that was available locally was a green moon filter. I guess that I will have to have an eBay fix to buy a polarizing filter. Are there good and bad brands of Polarizing filters? Regards, Jas. VK4FJGS Rocky Qld.

Any reason to not use ND (neutral density) filters to tame the brightness like in photography?

The lense fumble was me last night in the dark looking at the moon for the first time lol!!

great info Jason. Maybe we should start a go fund me page so we can replace that chewed up chair😄

just watched your video. i have over 30years in the optical field and many years in lens manufacture. if you are interested i can send info on lens polarization and the importance of aligning the polarization . i'm not sure how much affect it has on telescopes but if someone is daylight viewing along with wearing polarized eyewear if should be very important.

Good morning mate, one clarification as a matter of symantics: earthshine refers to the reflected light off of earth illuminating the "unlit" portion of the moon, not the "dark side." We enjoy your videos and if you ever visit us here on the 42nd parallel in Michigan, the first pint is on me!

Ty just got my first telescope , you are great i enjoy the explanations (:o)

Reducing the aperture reduces resolution and that is unwanted especially with small telescopes.

They say that people thought that the lunar seas had water in them but I think that even naked eye you can tell it's a dry arid place but obviously I base that on modern hindsight however the contrast water would give is a give away there isn't any!

If the dust cover hole is in the middle, doesn't that reduce the resolving power of your scope because you are effectively turning your 8" scope (or whatever size it is) to a smaller size, depending on the size of the hole - say 3". You might as well be observing the moon with a 3" scope. I surmise that is why the larger dust cover has two holes that are not in the center - you still get some of the advantages of the larger diameter objective along with cutting down on light.

The 1 dislike is the guy that brought their telescope out and didn’t check if it was cloudy

Have you thought about doing a video trying to view the iss transits of the moon and sun Some fairly soon close to you

what if you use your left eye to view the moon and right to look at everything else?

Finally had a clear sky long enough to try out my new camera , set up everything , got the scope aligned , focused on Jupiter with my eye piece , tracked it for a couple of minutes to make sure it stayed centered , switched out eye piece and inserted my new svbony 105 and just like that , the dew on my telescope was so thick along with the dew on my lap top I could see nothing , all in just 5 minutes time , I hate florida in the summer , it's just impossible , temperature was 89 F with 89 percent humidity , I'll have to go out west to do anything ..

UHC filter will block out blue light , but as a less expansive source , a yellow filter will also,

I never knew that filters were this important ! I think I will buy one because i don’t have one yet😅.and do polarizing filters work for planets such as Jupiter and Saturn because Jupiter is too bright…

When I bought a filter set it came with a green Moon filter and they are bad like really bad so I immediately bought a polarizing filter and the difference is mind blowing!

I saw the crescent, You saw the whole of the moon...

SV BONY is selling a lot of cameras because of your video, they owe you a 305 ..LOL

side-light... why plastered walls look dodgy when you shine a torch across it... unless it's a good plasterer? 🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌚

I’m as amateur as it gets.. I just got my first filter.. I got a svbony 1.25 uhc . Will that help with the moon? Or just deep sky? I got it to help with light pollution.. I’m using my great grandfathers 1950s Lafayette refractor 60mm 800mm . And a svbony sv305 Astro camera

Should I get a moon filter for my small (70mm/900FL) refractor? I looked at the full moon recently (and other phases too) with a 20mm eyepiece (45x magnification) and it didn't feel dazzling or ''too bright''. I feel that my telescope is so small that it just doesn't capture that much light.

Would the filter be better for my new svbony105?(which i've just bought thanks to you).

Are you the Frank Spencer of the astronomy world, when it comes to dropping expensive glass? LOL

16: fumble !

Belting pal

I have a moon filter, but I haven't dropped it yet.

Dont go to the dark side ! That seems familiar. 😀

whats an eyepiece ? just jk, great advice and i use filters for viewing the moon 🔭👍

Using cap as aperture reducer also will reduce resolution and sharpness and will ruin your observation experience...

Whatever you do ( don't go to the dark side Luke ) ...lol

Sorry, man, but your "m'kay" and "o'right" remind me video by Alfie Solomons "Learn the cockney accent". 😅

I usually prefer a neutral density filter and a polarizing to gether on the moon it gives me a far better contrast especially with my 12-inch Skyline, 14:35 it's just beautiful the details I see !!! 18:13

Rule 1 don’t go to the dark side 👍

Takes a long long long time coming to the point.

Could those "mysterious little holes" also be a Hartman mask?

For me the moon is a doddle

Some of the most beautiful views I've ever had of the moon.Or was a neutral density filter and small crescent.