Jupiter - Magnification To View Rings ?

[Black Hole]

Hi,

With the current excellent visibility of Jupiter in the Southern UK what type of magnification is needed to get a reasoably distinct view of the rings?

As a newbie without a telescope I have been using a pair of low magnification binoculars and think that I can possibly just get a faint outline but possibly wishful thinking on my part?

Thx

Blackos

[John]

Jupiter's rings are not visible through amateur telescopes as far as I am aware. I use 150x - 180x with my 120mm ED refractor a get very nice views of it's cloud belts, the great red spot and it's 4 brightest moons. But no rings.

Wait until Saturn is around - you can't miss the rings with that although you will need a scope to see them clearly.

[rfdesigner]

I'm not sure I've ever seen them.. I'm sure Damian Peach would have photographed them if he could.. never seen him do so.

So. Jupiters rings?.. probably need a Keck.

sorry.

Derek

[Black Hole]

Thx for the replies, scope definitely needed then, sounds like Saturn is a joy to view. Out of interest when is Saturn next viewable to a good degree in the Southern UK?

Thx

Blackos

[Dunkster]

Saturn should start rising at a reasonable hour in the spring...

[ollypenrice]

Do we need to distinuish between rings and cloud belts here? Jupiter has cloud belts on its surface but its rings are incredibly faint and are the stuff of the big professional telescopes with CCD detectors. You wouldn't need abnormal magnification - 200x would be fine - but you'd need an unattainable light grasp/f ratio to see them at an eyepiece.

Olly

[johnkirkpatrick]

Jupiter does have a ring system as do all our gas giants, But to faint to see from earth, So I take it you mean the cloud belts, I use x180/200 and see them fine, But I can also see them at x60/80.

[4lefts]

i just read on wikipedia that jupiter's rings weren't observed until 1979 when voyager 1 arrived. should give some idea of how likely you are to see them with amateur equipment on earth. assuming we are talking about rings, not belts.

[Pete Presland]

assuming we are talking about rings, not belts.

i think thats exactly what we are talking about,the belts are easily seen blackos in a smallish scope