How to see more detail on planets?

[MrsAppleton]

Hello everyone,

Me again from Sunny Cyprus looking for some advise on how to see the planets better!

Currently when i look in the sky i have a good view of Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.  Jupiter and Venus are currently low on the sky at early evening, saturn rises a little later, but i have good view of it all night long.

My issue is when i look at the planets i dont seem to see a huge amount of detail.  I have never seen the big spot on jupiter, but i can see the moons. and i can only just make out the rings on saturn.  The closer i go, they just seem to get a bit fuzzy.

What do i need to do, or buy to get a better view?

Hope you can help!  I have listed all my telescope accessory's in my signature!

Thank you

Gemma

[Polstar_UK]

Hi,

Only just getting into this myself but I've picked a few things up. The planets will show detail based on a number of factors such as where in the solar system they happen to be in. Jupiter at the moment is approaching the sun so its actually at the opposite side of the solar system from us at the moment. Later on as we move around in our orbit of the sun Jupiter will be opposite in the sky to the sun so we will be much closer to it and therefore see more detail.

Also the planet orbits are not perfectly circular so some years they will be closer than others.

The quality of the atmosphere will also effect your view, if its a warm summer night you will get ripples and boiling of the air and the closer to the horizon the more of this atmosphere you have to look through.

Another factor to take into account is the type of telescope we have, a telescope with a fast or low focal ratio will show a wide area but smaller objects in that area where a slower or high focal ratio will show a more narrow area but the object will be larger. We both have fast scopes f4 and f5 so we see a good field of view with smaller objects in that field. An f10 telescope for example would be better for planetary viewing.

I'm sure others will be able to give more advise or correct any misunderstandings I have

[MarsG76]

Hi,

Only just getting into this myself but I've picked a few things up. The planets will show detail based on a number of factors such as where in the solar system they happen to be in. Jupiter at the moment is approaching the sun so its actually at the opposite side of the solar system from us at the moment. Later on as we move around in our orbit of the sun Jupiter will be opposite in the sky to the sun so we will be much closer to it and therefore see more detail.

Also the planet orbits are not perfectly circular so some years they will be closer than others.

The quality of the atmosphere will also effect your view, if its a warm summer night you will get ripples and boiling of the air and the closer to the horizon the more of this atmosphere you have to look through.

Another factor to take into account is the type of telescope we have, a telescope with a fast or low focal ratio will show a wide area but smaller objects in that area where a slower or high focal ratio will show a more narrow area but the object will be larger. We both have fast scopes f4 and f5 so we see a good field of view with smaller objects in that field. An f10 telescope for example would be better for planetary viewing.

I'm sure others will be able to give more advise or correct any misunderstandings I have

I think you've almost covered it... I find that using certain filters does help with detail... I found that baader moon & sky glow (neodymium) filter and Contrast booster has a noticeable improvement on detail I see on Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Also check your collimation... Bad collimation will not allow you to focus as precisely, robbing you of detail

I disagree that a f10 scope is better for planetary viewing. Sure a f10 scope will reach higher magnifications with same eye pieces as a, for example f5, but if shorter focal eye pieces or barlow lenses/powermates are used than same magnification is achieved. It's down to the size of the scope, seeing condition and how much the object can be magnified before starting to get fuzzy due to exceeding objective light gathering.

[MarkRadice]

Gemma,

In addition to the advice abovee, the other thing to remember is practice. The more you look, the more you see. The surface details on the planets are quite low contrast - something we forget with all these wonderful pictures from amateur and professional instruments. I recommend downloading the templates from the BAA (or other sources) and sketching the planets. The use of pencil and paper helps one to notice the detail - well it did for me anyway!

Where in Cyprus are you? I've got family near Paphos and have had great fun observing from their garden in t-shirt and shorts.

Clear skies,

Mark

[perrin6]

A. Collimation

B. Thermal equilibrium of Mirror / lens

C. Atmospheric stability

D. Patience

E. Better eyepiece

F. Aperture fever !

[ghostdance]

Hi Gemma

Your NPL 30mm is a little gem. I'd consider checking out the higher mag NPLs to increase mag and replace your 6/10 with (as you didn't name them I'll assume they're nothing special, lol). Or look for a nice used orthoscopic like Circle T - really good sharp planetary views for not much money.

As an aside, with my 6" f5 reflector it is often easier to see detail with Saturn and Jupiter than with my 90mm f13.9 Mak - from my messy city skies at any rate. Venus is the opposite. I'm still testing this comparison tho and sometimes think the Cassini Division is easier with the 90. I'm also waiting to see how Mars fares tho this seems to be a tricky one.

I absolutely agree about seeing more by looking often. And the GRS is only visible when it's rotated to the, er, front! I use Stellarium or Sky Safari apps to confirm its rotation ( there is another online resource but I forget its name ).

Good luck and happy planetary seeing

[BeanerSA]

I found the following article helpful

http://www.astronomyforum.net/planets/146636-treatise-optimizing-planetary-views.html

If you get caught by their 5 view limit, open the link in an Incognito, or Private Browsing tab.

[John]

A. Collimation

B. Thermal equilibrium of Mirror / lens

C. Atmospheric stability

D. Patience

E. Better eyepiece

F. Aperture fever !

This list is useful but personally I've found that D is the key, ideally coupled with C. The more you view the planets, the more practiced you will become at teasing out the finer details. Initially I find even with my 12" scope that Jupiter, for instance, offers little apart from the two main belts and possibly faint indications of a couple more. If it's visible, the Great Red Spot initally is often indicated by the hollow it sits in at the southern edge of the south equatorial belt. If you stay with observing the planet, your eye starts to adapt to the brightness and contrast and then you can gradually star to detect further details such as the pale orange oval of the GRS itself, further cloud belts, ragged edges to the N and S equatorial belts, dark "barges", wispy festoons crossing the pale equatorial zone from either the N or S equatorial belts, pale eddies and swirls and other pale spots. By the end of a decent session on Jupiter I can usually see much, much more detail than I could when I started to observe the planet. This takes time though - typically 30-60 minutes before the finer details start to emerge.

The same applies to Saturn and Mars I've found and probably to the other planets as well although suface (well, cloud tops really) details on Venus are very, very subtle at best. I've not seen any details on Mercury, Uranus or Neptune as yet even with my 12" scope. Oftn the challenge is to find these latter worlds and make out their tiny disks which separate them from stars.

[Charic]

Polstar_UK hints on the telescope!......I agree, what about a better  telescope?

I worked with the Powerseeker 127EQ, very similar to the Astromaster,  and  had  similar issues to those you describe.  I upgraded to the 200P, so much better, chalk & cheese! yet now, a few Years later, I still want more?

There has been one very successful and memorable session viewing Jupiter with my Skyliner, everything that night  was perfect, crystal clear and sharp, even down to  the  shadow of Io as it passed in-front of Jupiter, but this was a rare occasion. Conditions have to be absolutely perfect. They don't come often

Follow all the advise above to ensure that your scope is correctly set-up. All telescopes work, but telescopes have their limits,  and  you need to have  the best conditions available. Only then will you get the best from your existing telescope. If this is still not enough or achievable, then its time to upgrade. 

I would like  to see Jupiter at least twice the size I see it now.? Sit another scope next to mine, using the same EPs giving me that increase, and I may have to consider my next telescope ( for that purpose alone  maybe ). 

I still think the set-up I have for my needs / my eyes, is very good, I just need to look through another scope to see If/what I'm missing, if anything?

So don't despair, or feel the need to buy something new right away. John mentions his experience when using his 12" telescope, if its only slight, then I have no need to upgrade! Its a difficult game this astronomy lark, choosing and buying whats suitable only to find we wan't better, bigger shortly afterwards?  At least it keeps us busy, studying, choosing, when we should be out observing, except for the constant cloud cover I have experienced this Year?

[Charic]

........called away, and ran out of editing time?

The 8" and 12" scopes work well, but they too have their limits. I would not suggest buying another scope until you have at least tried and looked through one, as your expectations may be different to ours!

There is not one perfect scope out there, that does it all?  You will have to search and be content with what you have. One Day  though, it would be nice to sit back and smile.......satisfied with a perfect system.

Mine is good for my  needs, but still far from  absolute perfection!

[jetstream]

John, that's some excellent advice!