What sort of views to expect

[hunterz]

Hi I'm still new to astronomy and was just wanting to know what to expect to see through the scope.I have been looking at all the photos people have taken of planets,galaxies ect and they look amazing but when I looked through a scope all I see are little white dots even saturn just looks little more that a spot with the fainst glimpse of a ring.was I just expecting too much to think I whould see images like all the photos on here or see saturn in colour with detail of the rings

[Astro Imp]

You don't say what scope you have been using, but don't expect your view through a scope to match thaat seen in the astro images you see here and in the magazines.

Remember that that these images have often been taken giving hours of exposure time and then been subject to more hours of processing by very skillful imagers.

Most of the DSOs you view through a scope will been seen as grey smudges, the amount of detail present depending on the viewing conditions and the scope used.

Viewing the planets with a reasonable magnification, say 100x plus, you should begin to some detail, again depending on conditions.

[Willarnold]

A good book to look at is 'Turn left at Orion'.

The pictures within the book are a good example of what you see visually

[brantuk]

Have a look at 12DString fov calculator (website) and CCDCalc (stand alone). Except for the colours you'll get a good idea of what to expect in the eyepiece:

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

The New CCD Astronomy Home Page

Both free. Also "Turn Left at Orion" and "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders" are both good books with finding instructions and view illustrations

[JamesM]

Unless the scope has a large aperture you are unlikely to see any colour and even if you do it would be only a hint. I would suggest you contact a local observing group in order to take a good look through different types of kit as different scopes are designed to work in particular ways that will reveal different levels of detail. If the scope you looked through for example was from a department store, I wouldn't be surprised at your disappointment.

Clear skies

James

[tms48]

you can set up and use the occular view in stellarium but I have found that this is highly optimistic, it shows colours and levels of detail that cant be seen in normal viewing

[AweSIM]

Have a look at 12DString fov calculator (website) and CCDCalc (stand alone). Except for the colours you'll get a good idea of what to expect in the eyepiece:

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

The New CCD Astronomy Home Page

Both free. Also "Turn Left at Orion" and "Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders" are both good books with finding instructions and view illustrations

@brantuk.. i had checked out the CCDCalc software a while back a members suggestion.. but the website link you gave was very useful too.. .. nice work.. a bit slow to load.. but very good.. ..

you can set up and use the occular view in stellarium but I have found that this is highly optimistic, it shows colours and levels of detail that cant be seen in normal viewing

@tms48.. brother i agree with you.. true stellarium shows unrealistically rich images.. but in my opinion the purpose of the program is not to SHOW you what youll actually SEE.. but what IS out there.. i think the occular view is great.. i dont use it to benchmark what i can expect to see.. but only to access the FOV i can expect from a particular scope/EP configuration.. ..

asim sohail..

[Steve_meg]

I also wondered what I could see just after I got my scope. Saw so many pictures of colourful nebular, bright galaxies and also on eyepiece simulators but found them misleading to the real thing. Luckly I still liked finding grey fuzzies. However could see how people can be disappointed.

[foundaplanet]

You may find this thread useful...

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/141614-photos-v-reality.html

The first views I ever had after the binos were through a 4" newt and for sure I longed for a bigger scope but the thrill that I had seen it with my own eyes was always the point.. Still is, you know like getting some of that objects light all to yourself....