Jupiter using a small scope

[Stub Mandrel]

I bought my 150mm reflector because I was surprised how much I could see with a 76mm Bresser scope from Lidl.

Having had a bit of beginner's luck imaging Jupiter with the larger scope I though I would see what I could do with the small one, though I did use the EQ3 tripod, which was rock solid with such a small scope on it.

I got best results with the star diagonal removed and used the Skywatcher x2 barlow.

I struggled with getting good exposure with broken cloud, but I came up with this composite of just two short runs of video, one for the moons and one for Jupiter itself. All in all I think it's a nice picture although it obviously lacks fine detail, like Io and its shadow which would both have been visible with a big scope.

[toilandtrouble123]

With a scope from Lidl, as in the chavvy cheap supermarket?

[quimby44]

nowt wrong with cheap scopes its the eye piece you need to replace i got a zennox 76 x 700 seen some good stuff but i to need a better e/p

[Stub Mandrel]

It was an opportunity to pick up a scope with an EQ mount, although I'd been looking at the Skwatcher 130P and 150PL for ages, I wasn't sure it would be worth it, and I wanted to try something. It took ages for me to find a cloudlkess night, but when I did I was convinced!

the point of the post is to encourage anyone who has a tight budget to have a go.

Now I've seen through the scope coimparingteh Skjywtacher eypieces and the cheap ones, Quimby is right. The eyepieces are poor and the barlow is awful, but the actual objectivbe lens appears to be fine.

I will be getting better EPs for the Skywatcher (eventually) and then the old ones can go to the Bresser, I think a better star diagonal might help as well, it seems to eat light. The small scope will be ideal for taking on holiday.

[Dave grim]

That's a good pic with such a small scope

[Alien 13]

Well done I love small scopes and have used mine to image Jupiter with the std SW barlow and I agree a decent eyepiece does make a big improvement.

Alan

[Tommohawk]

the point of the post is to encourage anyone who has a tight budget to have a go.

Good on you - as you say its surprising what you can do with quite modest kit.