You will want to set up on the far side of the Moon. I think the earth shine, which we see all the time reflecting off the Moon, will make it such that you wouldn't be able to see very well. You could probably set it up inside a glass dome. The dome would need to be made such that it didn't distort the image. I big Dob with one of the Meade DSI eyepieces would be the way to go. Then you could share the image with all of us Earthbound astronomers. Dave -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+david.dunn=albertsons.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+david.dunn=albertsons.com@mailman.xmissio n.com] On Behalf Of Dale Hooper Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 10:33 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Observing on the moon When we go back to the moon in 2018, I'll be a spry 58 years old - so I should certainly live long enough to make the journey myself. <g> So, I was curious what it would take if I plop my Meade LX-200 out on the lunar surface and want to observe? Visually - I'm going to have a tough time because the helmet visor sure makes it tough to get to the eyepiece. Tracking & Pointing - I think I'm going to need some software on a laptop to get this thing to point to the right place - because I sure can't use a sidereal rate here. It would be easier with pointing a dob because things wouldn't be moving very quickly - but that eyepiece problem would need to be resolved. Exclusion zones - I've got this one big blue ball in the sky that is always basically in about the same location. Plus, there is still the very bright sun subtending about 30 arcminutes - emitting at every frequency. But it's only up 2 weeks each month. Guiding - I think my autoguider would still work just fine - but for those of us with Meade telescopes - we'll probably still have to use AO7's because of the high periodic error. How long will it work? - I'm curious how long it would take for all of the grease to out-gas leaving me with ground up (but not squeaky - because of no sound) gears? Plus, temperature extremes are going to punish it much worse than anything I see in Cache Valley. Clear skies, Dale. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com