Targets for a Bright Moon

Sometimes it seems the best and most clear skies only come when the moon is bright and full. If you are shooting from home with a telescope and an OSC camera that makes things more difficult unless using a dual narrowband filter. Those of us who run mono use times like this for narrowband, especially Ha and Sii or Oiii well away from the moon.

When using mono and you want to enhance your LRGB targets shooting your Ha for galaxies is an awesome idea for full moon nights. Shooting rich Ha targets like IC 59 and IC63, a ton of stuff in Cygnus and Cephus, and depending on the time of year, stuff in the galactic core are all awesome things to do.

When using OSC you can do a dual narrowband filter and get some awesome stuff, but for me, my favorite bright moon targets are star clusters. You can even get away with using a DSLR and telescope for star clusters, whether globular or open clusters, you get nice point source light that can easily overpower the moon.

So the next time you are bummed out about having a clear night only around the full moon, just remember, narrowband targets and star clusters make great use of those nights.