Jupiter, a bit disappointed...

[kirkster501]

Been doing some great double star, stellar and nebula stuff with my kit. And lunar is fabulous

I'm a little bit disappointed in Jupiter though after my initial excitement. It just looks, well, small....... Even with a 17mm Nagler (and with my PM that gives 8.5mm) in an 11 inch SCT... in other words over 300x... Sure, I don't expect Voyager photos or Damian Peach like views but kind of want to see it bigger. I can see the bands etc though, but looks like a 5p five feet away.

Am I being a bit unrealistic? is *MUCH* higher magnification required for getting ti to fill the EP view more?

Appreciate your feedback. I really love Jupiter and want to see more of it. Maybe I need more experience and need to *learn* to observe and see....

Steve

[Chris H]

I normally observe Jupiter at x150 or x200 so if you've been able to use x300 on it then you've seen it a fair bit bigger than I have. There is plenty of detail there you have to get your eye in which takes a bit of practice plus time at the eye piece. With your tracking scope this should be a pleasure to do. Have you got a seat? Sitting down to observe makes it easier to concentrate and this can make the target appear a little bit bigger.

[John]

I've seen lots of detail on Jupiter at 180x with a 120mm refractor. Bigger is not the aim - sharper and more contrasty is, which often needs less magnification. It also needs a fully cooled scope, good collimation, good seeing conditions and time spent at the eyepiece to "catch" the moments (just very brief moments) when the seeing allows your scope to show what it can do.

[Catweazel]

That sounds like the sort of size I see Jupiter in my scope, although I have only gone to 200x (my scope won't go much higher). To be honest, it was about what I expected. Looking at it with a low power eyepiece, it can look small but very sharp & detailed. I guess the only way to get it bigger (and in focus) is bigger scopes?

[kirkster501]

Great tips guys. Yes, maybe a little more patience and get my bum on the Denver seat I made and wait for the seeing to clear... In my excitement I haven't sat down at my scope yet ! Perhaps my thoughts of getting Jupiter to fill half the view are unrealistic. But then, its all about learning right ?

[nightfisher]

another tip, get a spc900 webcam and capture it digitally, this wil give you an image more like damian peach manages

[faulksy]

i was often around a month ago viewing jupiter at around 300x and it was great but a bit less power will give you cleare more detailed views which will be equivalent to bigger views. is your scope cooled for a while will need a while on a 11". were is it kept is it warm, is it colomated? try a star test

[Capricorn]

Working back from a field of view, then assumng something like a 60 degree eyepiece, then your field of view with 325x will be something like 665 arc seconds. Jupiter is something like 30 (ave) to 50 (closect) arc seconds.

So Jupiter will fill about 1/13 of the view through the eyepiece at it's closest to us (~50 arc sec). If at it's average of 30 arc sec then only about 1/20 of it.

It isn't ever going to jump out at you.

[todd8137]

i would suggest a camera to capture video ,which you can play back ,stack and play about with in general just let in jupiter drift threw the scope will get you lots of frames just a simple web cam would do the trick

[Stevie816]

Hi Kirkster

I agree with Faulksy check the collimation a star test should tell you, and have you considered the seeing

In my limited expirience the seeing is almost the most important, I can see plenty of detail at no more than 200x on a good night

[michael8554]

You're disappointed with the view with an 11" SCT, what about the poor guy with his "300 times magnification" fleabay scope?

[Mr Q]

For what it's worth, you might consider the collimation being off a bit. The link below shows images of how bad collimation effects views of Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon. If all else fails, consider collimation problems and by all means, do a star test on a bright star at the zenith with the scope cooled down. The site below will show you what to expect and what to look for.Thierry Legault - The collimation

[kirkster501]

THanks everyone. Collimation is spot on, seeing was not. So, more patience on my part required (an a reality check)

[faulksy]

how do you know collimation is right. im not saying i doubt you did you do a star test ?

[themos]

Half the view of a Plossl is 26 degrees, or 1560 arcminutes. Jupiter at best is 0.8 arcminutes so you'd need about 1800x magnification. At about 0.5mm exit pupil for high power views, that's about a 900mm diameter scope.