Orion 10013 GoScope 80mm... is it a good scope for planets?

[Rusty-Gunn]

Hi. First post. My daughter and I are begining to gain interest in star gazing. We bought a new Orion scope and used it tonight to see the astroid but could not find it.

Anyhoo, she found what we believe is Jupiter. She.says it seems rather tiny as seen in the scope. I did not see it as I can not see well - eye surgury set for Mach/April.

Is this a good enough scope to see the planets well enough? I am highly intrigued by Saturn and would eventually like to see it's rings.

Thank you.

[Rusty-Gunn]

We went out yesterday to view Jupiter and used the 10x eye piece. To my failing eyes it looks like a star. My dsughter didn't see any detail like stripes or whatever Jupiter is famous for.

We're discussing buying a better scope (to take pictures/videos, too), before this year is up (hopefully sooner). Until then, what can we do to make our Orion 10023 more better? Thanks.

[Marky1973]

Hi Rusty-Gunn - I am no expert, but looking at the scope on the web, it appears to have a 350mm focal length, so your 10mm eyepiece is going to give you 35x magnification (focal length divided by eyepiece) which might be a little too little for Jupiter. Through my Dob, with a 1250mm focal length I get 50x magnification with my 25mm eyepiece and the planet looks quite small, I usually jumpy up to the 17mm eyepiece which gives 74x magnification.

However, with good conditions you may be able to see Jupiter's moons and I am sure the planet should start to look rounder, rather than a bright pinpoint like a star.

You could also try a smaller eyepiece - an 8mm BST eyepiece is a very nice bit of kit, but I am not sure how well it will work with your scope. A 2x Barlow might be a better option with the 10mm to give you 70x magnification.

The webpage I looked at showed the scope with a red-dot finder. Have you got one and have you aligned it with the scope? It you point the scope at a distant object in daytime, centre it in your view and then adjust the finder so that it too is centred on the object - then, when you align the red dot finder with Jupiter at night, you will know you are bang on and looking at the planet.

You may also have to spend more time at the eyepiece, if you watch for more than a few minutes you may start to pic out more detail as your eyes adjust. The atmosphere at the time of viewing can also affect the "seeing" so objects can fade in and out of focus depending on the atmosphere.

Also, if you haven't already, download a app like Stellarium, which you can set up to show you what is in the night sky according to your location and time - should help you be confident you are looking at the right target. It will also show comets etc etc, so it is definitely worth a go. It's free on a PC. It might cost on mobile, but it was still very cheap.

You can use Stellarium to find all sorts of things, like star clusters which can be nice to look at. Don't know if/when it is visible from your location, but Pleiades is lovely to look at, and there are plenty of other clusters to find!

Good luck and don't get disheartened, it takes time to get used to it all.

(And good luck with the eye surgery!)

PPS - if you are thinking about photography later down the line, it can get very expensive and the first recommendation from everyone on here will be a book "Making Every Photon Count" which will take you through the basics of what you need. In the meantime, once you find things in the sky, you can get some half-decent shots just holding a camera/smartphone up to the eyepiece - try it on the moon, which is a fantastic object to explore - don't underestimate the beauty of the moon through a telescope! You should get some nice views with your scope and eyepieces and I am sure your daughter will love looking at the craters!

PPPS - it might also be worth focussing on the moon first and then finding Jupiter - you should be fairly close with focus then?

[happy-kat]

Your telescope will give some lovely wide field views. Something like Pleiades m45 will be very nice and Orion m42.

Jupiter will appear very small but if you get good focus and sit and observe for several minutes+ you will probably be able to see the two main bands I can in my Orion 80mm which is only slightly longer at 400mm. The Moon will be good to but... To make the most of trying to get a higher magnification I needed to use my own eyepiece, the 10mm is poor and on bright objects showed lots of chromatic aberration CA so I would look at getting an 8mm eyepiece but do research as your telescope is fast so a cheap eyepiece may be no better than what you already have.

You could image the Moon with a webcam which might be fun with your daughter.

Have fun with it.

[Rusty-Gunn]

Thank you all very much. I did read about getting a Barlow 2x or 3x. Its an item to buy soon. I'm leaning towards the 2x but if you guys suggest the 3x then its what I will buy.

I also am interested in a webcam, but don't know much about them yet. Plenty to learn, but this hobby is very interesting.

I expect we will buy a few books on this hobby, too.

Thanks for the help.

[ronin]

At 350mm focal length you are going to need to look at something like an 8mm or less eyepiece, 8mm will give about 44x. Which will just about show Jupiter as a disk but the disk may be too bright to see much. The bright bits swamp the darker bands and you see no detail.

I would usually say a shorter focal length eyepiece (I am not a fan of barlows), say 6mm, but at f/4.3 on a refractor I would suggest a barlow, 2x or if available a 1.6x.

Something says you may be better "extending" the focal length rather then useing a shorter eyepiece.

Anything on the eyepieces other then Orion and 10mm ?

Hoping Pl or MA or H, something to indicate the eyepiece design.

Just for when it happens, a refractor at f/4.3 will give chromatic aberration on bright objects , and Jupiter is bright .

[Rusty-Gunn]

Ronin... The lenses only have "Orion 10mm fully coated". The other is " Orion 20mm fully coated". No letters. I don't know what all this means. But this is still a nice hobby. Give me some time to learn. This site is a very good place to start.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I now have a 2x Celestron X-cel barlow and an Orion eye piece cam on order. We will go from here and see what hapens. Thanks for the help.