wrote:
Just received a Meade 114EQ-ASTR (4.5" Equatorial Reflecting
Telescope), not exactly the recommendation on here from what I've seen,
for my daughter and I to start viewing with. Last night I attempted to
view the moon through 25 mm (and 9 mm) eyepieces but could not focus to
get anything other than bright light. Is the moon just too bright (when
full and overhead in this case) for this instrument or am I just too
much of a beginner? :-) I didn't have any problem focusing on various
stars though.

When I got my first telescope at age 12 (a little refractor) the first
thing I looked at was a full Moon. I was somewhat disappointed.
A full Moon (or close to it) is not very interesting (and very bright
without a filter). Wait and check out the Moon with your scope
when it's a crescent, up to half, when the features really come
out due to the angle of the Sun's light. The stars will never be
more than points..not too interesting either, but you should
be able to see the cloud bands of Jupiter and the rings of
Saturn fairly well, even with on 4½ inches aperture. People
always get a kick out of Saturn.