Telescope Moon Filter

strong>telescope Moon Filter
when observing the moon through a telescope, is this observing way stupid?

ok, i have a 6inch Reflector Telescope.
so when i am trying to observe the moon, i felt like the moon is too shining through my telescope(i don't have a lunar filter)
so i took a piece of white paper and put the paper in like this:

paper

. . . . . . . .eyepieces
telescope
and i did see a image on the paper, but i just wanna ask is this way kind of stupid. and also, how can i make the image of the moon on the white paper brighter?

and last thing, is there any way to boost Your Telescope lightgathering power without making the top of the Telescope Tube bigger.
thankyou
thanks geoff

The method you are describing is called "projection": the eyepiece is used like the lens in a projector to create an image on the piece of paper. This used to be a common way to observe the Sun, but is discouraged nowadays because modern telescopes generate too much heat, and it's easy to damage your eyepiece. Although this works on the Moon (and is no danger to the telescope) the image, as you say, is too dim.

The main problem is a misunderstanding that the image of the Moon viewed directly through the eyepiece is too bright. In fact, the Moon is no brighter than a highway on a sunny day. It only seems bright because we are generally looking at the sunlit Moon in a dark sky from a dark location. Turn on the lights in your observing location or observe at dusk, and the Moon's light will become much more tolerable. The other trick is to use a high magnification; I generally observe the Moon at 300x with my 11-Inch Telescope.

I don't recommend using a "Moon filter" or stopping down the telescope's aperture because both these techniques cut down the resolution of the telescope. I'm a serious lunar observer, and I want all the resolution I can get on this wonderfully detailed object!

[Edit] Making the end of the telescope bigger will not increase its light gathering power; only a larger primary mirror will do that, which usually involves replacing the whole telescope.