Tonight observing in kent

[chunky]

Hi is there anything i should keep a look out for tonight. i notic jupiter will be coming out around 4.00 (at my location i got a west south view) and andromada will be over head. gunna try out my telrad and try to get to the ring nebula if i can. will it be really noticable or will i have to keep a close eye for a fuzzy blob.

[Ags]

THe Ring Nebula is quite bright (for a nebula) and looks unmistakeably like a ring, unless you are at very low magnification in which case it may look like a fuzzy star. Once you've found it push up the magnification to tease out the detail in the nebula.

Andromeda should look like a white blur with a bright core. In bins I once glimpsed the dust lanes under reasonably dark skies. One of my best Astro moments.

[chunky]

justy alligned my telrad up to vega and within seconds i point my scope to where the ring nebula should be and saw a hazy blur in my ep (25mm) so bumped it up with the (10mm) and i could see it with adverted vision. i think it would be better with bettewr eyepeices as im using the standard ones with the scope

[chunky]

well i think tongiht was the night. firstly with the ring nebula, then i got jupiter and 4 moons and i think ive found andromeda just like a white blur.

if i was to get better ep`s would jupiter be bigger? i could make out the colours just about and a couple of stripes. and 4 moons. was easy to tell it was jupiter anyway.

i will say again the telrad has made locating so much easyier. definatly worth getting

[redgiantjohn]

Sounds like a good night for you! Still haven't seen jupiter yet,I was hoping to last night but clouded over, I saw M31 a few nights ago for the first time , a telrad is next on my shopping list when I get some funds a new EP and moon filter has just wiped me out

[chunky]

4.00 am i got to bed it was brilliant mate. i thought i may aswell wait for jupiter and andromeda and it was worth it. yehh next on my list is ep`s.

go for the telrad amazing bit of kit. made my life so much easyier this saturday compared to last. i cant use the standard zoom in upside image, to crazzzzy.

all the best hope you get some clear skies soon

chunky

[swamp thing]

rif i was to get better ep`s would jupiter be bigger? i could make out the colours just about and a couple of stripes. and 4 moons. was easy to tell it was jupiter anyway.

Hi

Try not to get "power crazy" a small clear image is preferable to a large blurry one.

You could go for more power than you have at present but you'll never magnify Jupiter enough to look like a beach ball in the eyepiece.

Atmospheric conditions in this country seldom allow much more than 250x - 300x on Planets.

Any eyepiece that gives more mag than this will seldom be used.

Planetary detail is only revealed by learning to see it. This takes time and patience.

Some of the Planetary detail recorded in sketches by experienced Planetary observers using modest sized scopes is staggering, but they only learnt this skill by hours and hours at the eyepiece.

TBH I find DSO exactly the same, a quick glimpse at a faint fuzzy often reveals just that, but after half an hour or so a considerable more detail is apparent.

IMO objects only show detail if you are prepared to put the eyepiece time in on them. That is where the real enjoyment is for me, getting to the point where your eye starts to really see an object.

Regards Steve

[chunky]

i was hopeing that getting a couple of better eps would make it a tad bigger so i could make out the red spot. i could see like stripes of red and yellowish colour. was brilliant though seeing it for the 1st time.

one thing i found is after 10 mins of looking at it i went off searching for andromeda and when i come back to it i found it was really bright where i couldnt make much detail out. maybe because my eyes need to adjust again im not sure.

so say i had a budget of 100 what ep or ep`s should i get?

thanks for the replys

chunky

[Pingster]

Hi there you have an 8in scope, i have an 8in also. As Steve said. If you pump up the mag too much all you will get is a bigger more fuzzy ball with which will actually be less pleasing to view. I find that the optimum Eyepiece for jupitor is my 17mm (x112mag). Anymore and i dont get a sharp view.

My advice is, if you cant see much of a DSO, buying a premium eye piece wont make it 'pop' out. If you cant see it with a standard eyepiece then you wont see it with any other eyepiece in your scope. Mainly all a premium eyepiece will give you is a better FOV.

What will improve your situation is darker skies or a bigger scope.

I see you have a 10mm ep, i have an 8 and a 6mm and i neer use them with my 8in scope. I get tempted, but always go back to 17mm as the results are not nice.

[Anders]

i was hopeing that getting a couple of better eps would make it a tad bigger so i could make out the red spot.

chunky

I have the same 'scope but on an EQ mount, it is very easy to see the great red spot. It looks like a small red /orange dot but perhaps it happened to be on the other side of the planet when you observed it. It does spin one whole turn in only 10 hours so you will be able to see any movements throughout the night, like the GRS appear to move across the disk.

//Anders

[chunky]

next clear skies ill have a longer look at it. would i be able to notic the moons moving. next on the list is saturn but seems to be to low in the skies for me at the moment when will it come back round