Observing the moon

I just had a quick session with the moon to try out my new EP kit...

I'm very impressed. All the EP's provide very different perspectives from just one crater (4mm) to the whole moon surrounded by a glorious expanse of space(32mm).

The moon filter is GREAT,as are all the other filters.

One thing though i'm not too sure about is the Barlow2X.

I blurs everything down a fair bit.

Would i be right in assuming that there is not much point in observing the moon with a Barlow2X because it is already so bright and close to us?

Do you use one when observing the moon?

Paul,

The problem with your Barlow may (?) be that you cannot reach focus.

I have a little experiment for you .... take a look at the moon with, for example, a 20mm eyepiece. Then, replace the 20mm with the Celestron 2x barlow PLUS a 10mm eyepiece. You should have a similar view.

If you do indeed reach focus, the blur may be fue to very poor seeing for the attempted power being used (ie. eyepiece).

Thanks for that Anthony. I will give that a go later on. As far as i remember i did use all the EP's with the barlow and without.

The seeing was not great as there was thin hazy clouds over the moon but all the EP's worked well without the barlow and not as well with it. Maybe indeed the bad seeing was enhanced by the barlow.

Hopefully it will be a bit clearer later on and i can determin for sure what was happening.

Paul,

When using a Barlow, you effectively double the power being used with a particular eyepiece. As a result, you have a smaller FOV and everything else gets magnified two-fold ... including atmospheric instability.

including atmospheric instability.

OK i'm gonna assume thats why everything looked a lot more blurred through the barlow. Without the barlow it looked like viewing through a thin mist.LOTS of detail................just a bit misty.

I didnt have much time to do a proper test drive as i was cooking at the time and my niece was running around and this that and the other.

As i said above i am MORE then happy with the new EP's+filters. They give spectacular views of the moon.

I think the 4mm one has a crack in it or something so its useless. But thats ok cuz i have a 9mm and a 6mm EP................when stacked with the barlow give me a 4.5mm and a 3mm......................so i wont miss the 4mm too much and the eye relief on the 9mm and 6mm is much better anyways.

The moon is an object where dark adapded eyes are a hinderance rather than a benefit.
The moon gives off too much light for the dark adapted eye.
It dazzles.
Some ambient light around constricts the pupils and gives you a better and more comfortable view I find.

P.S. Barlows never had a reputation for "good optical quality".