NavList:

Hello, Art!

You wrote about problems with SNO-T shades when taking Star Lunars. I aquired SNO-T sextant in the begining of this year and currently I am testing it. I found the same problem: the two lightest shades are not enough to  reduce the brighteness of the Moon when the star is not enough bright.

I have no problems with my first SNO-M sextant . It has blue shade (both on horizon and index mirror) and it works perfect for reducing the Moon light. 

Currently I use following technique on SNO-T: When looking through Keplerian telescope I move my eye slightly to one or other side in relation to eypiece of the telecope (but I still keep the area between the crosswires in the field of view). As a result one celestial object becomes brighter, but other – darker.

If the Moon is reflected from index mirror there is one more option: you can rise the telescope a little bit from the plane of the instrument. As a result the Moon’s image will be dimmer, but the star’s image-brighter in the field of view of the scope.

Modris Fersters