big let down looking at mars? me or my scope i wonder?

[rickygoespop]

hi all, i woke up extra early this morning to have a look at the skys (4-5am) and it was clear, i used my ipad app and stellarium to try and find mars and i did find what was apparantly mars. it looked like a star with slight pink colour unless my eyes were tricking me but thats what the ipad/stellarium said.

i pointed my scope to mars using a celestron 50az scope using a 12.5mm ep, after focusing it still looked like a tiny speck in my scope i couldnt make out wether it was a planet or not, does anyone know wether this is what i should expect from my scope and eye piece? in my kit i have 4mm 12.5mm 20mm ep and a 3xbarlow scope im still learning by trial and error at the moment. i have had good results with jupiter using the 12.5mm ep only ,with cloud bands just about visible and a crisp disk and moons. i only used the 12.5mm ep as its the only one i had on me but ive read a few times that the 4mm ep is practically useless for my scope.

any info would be much apreciated but after getting gooseumps seeing jupiter for the first time i was deflated with my attempt at mars.

cheers...Rich

absolute beginer astronomer- long term interest astrophotography

Celestron 50az powerseeker

moon

jupiter + moons

[nicnac]

Mars is still a pretty hard target at the moment

[rickygoespop]

hi nicnac, do you know why it is hard at the moment, is it further away from us than usual?

[Valley]

It'll be much closer in Feb/March, have a look here Mars's Orbit

[coxy322]

Did you catch the Sky at Night that was on last week? It's not on iPlayer any longer but you might find it on You-Tube?

Worth watching as it was talking about Mars in depth. I am new to astronomy and this is my first year with my scope, so not yet been up late/early enough to have the opportunity to target Mars. The consensus on S@N suggested that Mars does not look all that great, not unless it is near opposition. So March next year I believe will be the best time to expect good viewing!

[Omega]

Despite its proximity Mars is not a particularly impressive sight through a telescope due its surface and its eccentric orbit, so presumably best viewed at particular intervals...

I have no experience of viewing so can't comment on when/how best to view it, despite obvious limitations...

[rickygoespop]

thanks for that link to mars orbit valley, by the looks of it october 2020 is going to be a great year for observing mars. im still looking forward to saturn in ht enew year.

[ChrisThePuma]

I saw Mars too - through my 8x40 binos (after a lot of checking back and forward with stellarium to confirm it was it) and then could still see without the binos once i knew where to look.

Also saw saturn for the first time ever this morning :-)

[Omega]

thanks for that link to mars orbit valley, by the looks of it october 2020 is going to be a great year for observing mars. im still looking forward to saturn in ht enew year.

Saturn will be the first object I'll go to when I get my scope, along with Jupiter of course. My first experience though a telescope was through a friends small Jessops reflector lol, and Jupiter looked radiant through it! So I cannot wait to see how it looks through my 8" Dob when it arrives

[Chris H]

Mars is a hard target at the best of times, give it a couple of months and Mars and Earth get a lot nearer to each other and the view will improve. But Mars is pretty small and if you have been looking at Jupiter over the last few months you may have high expectations given that Mars is nearer to us but it is still small even at opposition.

At the last opposition I could make out some surface colouration and a polar cap at x200 in my 10" Dob, you may be struggling with your 50mm refractor.

[Rob L]

thanks for that link to mars orbit valley, by the looks of it october 2020 is going to be a great year for observing mars. im still looking forward to saturn in ht enew year.

Don't worry you don't have to wait that long.... July 2018 looks pretty good too

[spaceboy]

Mars will never show a great deal of detail in a 2" scope. Saying this Mars is a struggle even in larger scopes at the moment so keep your chin up.

[Neilius]

Last time I saw Mars through the scope was in 1993, with a Tasco 60mm refractor! (which I still have btw - unused and most likely unusable!).

It was particularly close that year but I remember been able to see a red disk with maybe a hint of white polar ice cap, but only just. It should look amazing in anything bigger than 6'' upwards.

[Scosmico]

I have got a site here mate that can help you checking the apparent size of planets in the sky. Look at Jupiter an easy target nowadays and compare against other planets inthe table.

CCD Images By Dean Salman and astronomy for the amateur astronomer

Kind regards

[Capricorn]

Mars never gets as big as Jupiter. The angular size of Mars is 3 to 25". The angular size of Jupiter is 29 to 51".

So Mars at it's closest, and biggest, is still smaller then Jupiter at it's furthest and smallest.

So you need a fair bit more magnification to see Mars.

Last year there were several posts about the same. People were using 10" and 12" scope and still many failed to make out anything significant.

From memory the ones who did were at magnifications of 250-300x, and that means that conditions have to be just right for where you are observing.

If the post is correct and you are using a 2" scope then you need equipment far in excess of that, in terms of aperture and magnification, and this also includes eyepieces.

[661-pete]

Just checked with Cartes du Ciel - at present Mars's apparent diameter is under 7 arcseconds, whereas Jupiter's is 47 arcseconds - seven times larger! No wonder Mars is difficult. Sorry, have to endorse what everyone else has said, any detail on Mars at the present time is beyond your equipment.

And if the 'seeing' is poor - i.e. if there is a fair amount of turbulence - you won't see much detail on Mars with even the largest telescope, if that's any consolation. Certainly (without having tried too many times) I've never ever made anything of Mars in my 10", with 9.5mm EP and barlow.

[rory]

The Night Sky December 2011 | Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

theres info on mars observation on this page , about half way down along with the other planets.

[cantab]

Essentially, Mars is normally very small and won't show much detail in smaller telescopes. It's bigger at oppositions, which are only every two years or so. Next one's next March.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Mars just does not excite me in any scope i have even at opposition.

[gooseholla]

It isn't always great at the best of times.

But, consider this:

1.It takes your eye many sessions to get trained in on the object.

2. Dust storms can cover the surface leaving no detail

3. Conditions might be poor. Also, you might have to leave your scope out to let it cool down so you don't have thermals in the tube, causing distortion.

4. Your scope just might not be up to it! Sorry... but few scopes are on such a small target.

[Matt2011]

Hiya Kris, My advice to you would be to wait for Mars when it gets nearer to the Earth mate and not to long now and also would advise on a bigger aperture scope for Mars as your not gonna see much at all with a 50mm Refractor if I am honest but my advice to you is go for a bigger aperture scope like a 102mm Refractor or larger and better still a Skywatcher 127 Skymax or something larger again to get good views and try the First Light Optics site at the top of the page. Good Luck :)

[rickygoespop]

thanks all, im just not sure what to expect from my scope at the moment, i mean im really impressed with the moon and jupiter also , i hope i can see saturn with its rings, i know it will be tiny in my scope but still will be amazing for me none the less.

i dont know why but i feel a little smug when im walking around looking up to the stars and actually being able to say thats jupiter etc.. and theres people walking around who have no idea that theres all this amazing stuff outside our planet.

[spaceboy]

As others have said if you are seriously considering astronomy as a hobby you will need to go bigger. I fear Saturn may well turn out to be another disappointment for you. You will be able to identify Saturn because of the rings but little more than a "hint" of them will be visible. You should get to see 3-4 moons but again these and the planet will appear small in your scope.

[Matt2011]

I would have a look on the FLO site above the page and if you have the funds buy yourself a bigger scope and I would recommend something like a Skywatcher 127 Skymax or a Skywatcher 200P Dobsonian which are reasonably priced and will show a lot more than your 50mm Scope, Hope that helps :)

[swamp thing]

Mars is a real testy little blighter.

Even when you do get the aperture and it's near opposition, it often throws a hissy fit and gets all stormy on ya, so you can't see zip.

It is also probably the most seeing effected of all the big three planets and refuses to give away anything unless the seeing is very good. Most of the markings are subtle at best and a real challenge.

IMO much less than a 5" frac or an 8" newt is hard work to get any detail on Mars. Even with these it isn't easy.

Regards Steve