This calendar will allow you to plan your viewing experience. The darker the date, the darker the sky and the better deep sky views will be. Dark grey gets you a bit of moon, but also some of the brighter deep sky objects. Anything more than light grey will have have a washed out sky, more suitable to lunar viewing. Red represents full moon and should be avoided unless you only want to look at the moon. A partial moon suitable for seeing the craters will occur in the period 3 to 5 days after new moon. During this period the sky remains quite dark. the period from about 5 days after full moon is also alright, as the bright moon rises quite late. view the next year calendar (available after October) here.