Should I buy a neutral density moon filter in order to view the moon through my telescope?

Question

I have a 5" reflector telescope with a 5" cover that allows a smaller hole to be opened for reduced light transmission. It seemed to make the moon dimmer, but I also lost quite a bit of contrast (or resolution?) for some reason. I wonder if that little opening in the telescope cover has any purpose in protecting the internal optics during solar viewing, but all the solar filters seem to be aimed at covering the aperture, 5" in my case (and they are expensive, too). Anyhow, the moon filter seems like it would do the very same thing as making the aperture smaller, but people sell 1.25" moon filters, and 5" moon filters with neutral density and with other colors bias, like green. Do I need a neutral density filter, or some other kind, or does my aperture limiting with the hole in the cover already allow good moon viewing?

Is there any advantage for a 5" aperture ND moon filter over a 1.25" eyepiece ND moon filter?

Answer 1

You don't need a filter to be over the full aperture for the moon, only solar filters need that.

An eyepiece moon filter is smaller so it would be less expensive.

Answer 2

Forget about a filter for viewing the Moon; it will reduce resolution and is a waste of money. The Moon is about as bright as sunlit asphalt, and doesn't need a filter to cut its light. It only looks bright because we're usually looking at it in a dark sky from a dark location. Try using a higher magnification, or viewing from a lit area....just using a white flashlight will help. You're not going to be observing deep sky objects with the Moon up anyway, so don't worry about dark adaptation. I always view the Moon at full aperture with my 11" Newtonian.

Answer 3

Yes, stopping down the aperture will reduce the resolution of the telescope. So buy a neutral density filter if you want to maintain that resolution.

Answer 4

at present day, we are at photograph voltaic minimum, so there is somewhat little seen on the exterior of the solar in white easy. till you word early interior the morning, the warmth waves turning out to be from products on the floor will reason turbulent air, and mask the high-quality granularity easily seen on the exterior of the solar. So try watching a pair of hours after break of day. by way of fact the photograph voltaic cycle starts to p.c.. up over the subsequent twelve months or 2, you will start to ascertain further and extra element on the exterior of the solar. some years in the past, i bought a Coronado own photograph voltaic Telescope, that's a dedicated photograph voltaic telescope with a narrow band Hydrogen Alpha filter out. It exhibits information interior the solar's floor besides as prominences interior the solar's ecosystem in basic terms approximately on a daily basis, and those in many situations replace straight away.

Answer 5

I would go with an eyepiece lunar (ND) filter. That way you can still use full aperture for better resolution.