Complete Novice - where am i going wrong?

[mcvsheff]

Hi guys,

Decided to finally take the plunge into astronomy and buy my first telescope a Jessops TA1100-102 Newtonian

Jessops Astronomical Telescope 1100-102 - Jessops - Telescopes

After getting it aligned during the daylight on a tv mast about a mile & half away I decided to move onto nighttime viewing. As our velux is north-east facing and (being on one of Sheffields many hills and backing onto a park) suffers from hardly any street light noise. I've been able to see Vega and Alcor & Mizar.

However I pointed it towards Mars tonight and after using the 20mm EP to line it up I switched to the 6mm EP and even with the 3xbarlow the image was very blurred. I would have expected much more detail especially given the daytime results (the mast and buildings around it showed very good levels of detail).

Now after readings Warthogs sticky on EPs I think it might be that these are just rubbish?

Or am I doing something wrong?

Just for more info the loft is reasonably cool and the lens chap was taken off a good hour before I starred viewing.

Any advice would be much appreciated

[John]

Mars is very small even with large scopes. Your scope has a 102mm mirror and with the 6mm eyepiece is giving 183x which might be OK but with the barlow you get 549x which will be totally unusable, even with a massive scope.

At 183x you should see a very small pale pinkish spot and when you look hard for some time you may notice a tiny white patch at one end which is the pole cap and maybe a slightly darker marking here and there. That's about it really for Mars.

Viewing from the loft is not a good idea as the heat from the house below you will be rising up and you will be viewing through it. Try and get the scope away from the house.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

[brianmc]

If you have a focal length of 1100mm and you're using a 6mm eyepiece you're already approaching a magnification of 200x which is often quoted in this forum as the maximum you can expect on most nights, and that's with expensive equipment. Adding a 3x barlow to this is never going to work I wouldn't have thought.

Mars is a difficult target I've found and the best I've managed is to see one of the polar ice caps and some darker areas, and that's with a 1200mm focal length and a 6mm eyepiece.

[mcvsheff]

If you have a focal length of 1100mm and you're using a 6mm eyepiece you're already approaching a magnification of 200x which is often quoted in this forum as the maximum you can expect on most nights, and that's with expensive equipment. Adding a 3x barlow to this is never going to work I wouldn't have thought.

Mars is a difficult target I've found and the best I've managed is to see one of the polar ice caps and some darker areas, and that's with a 1200mm focal length and a 6mm eyepiece.

Cheers Brian so am I trying to zoom in too much?

I might go and check with just the 6mm on its own now....

Image is better without the barlow but i know think its a combination of rubbish EPs (both HF and HR) and viewing through double glazing (even at the the best focus I'm seeing two images)

Thanks again for the advice... Might venture outside over the weekend weather permitting

[John]

... am I trying to zoom in too much?....

Yep - don't believe Jessops stuff about 400x - it's just not useable with a small scope, or even with a top quality larger one !.

[brianmc]

I also find that I get the best view of Mars using a moon filter, otherwise it's just too bright to make anything out. Although tonight there was just enough cloud to do the filtering for me so I was OK without it.

As John said you'll only see a small disc and it takes a lot of patient viewing before any detail starts to emerge.

[mcvsheff]

Mars is very small even with large scopes. Your scope has a 102mm mirror and with the 6mm eyepiece is giving 183x which might be OK but with the barlow you get 549x which will be totally unusable, even with a massive scope.

At 183x you should see a very small pale pinkish spot and when you look hard for some time you may notice a tiny white patch at one end which is the pole cap and maybe a slightly darker marking here and there. That's about it really for Mars.

Viewing from the loft is not a good idea as the heat from the house below you will be rising up and you will be viewing through it. Try and get the scope away from the house.

Welcome to the forum, by the way.

Thanks John... Looks like the barlow was a school boy error.

Think the heat and the double glazing might be the blurring factor....

Weather permitting and thermals at the ready I'm gonna venture outside over the weekend

[John]

...Think the heat and the double glazing might be the blurring factor......eather permitting and thermals at the ready I'm gonna venture outside over the weekend

Definitely try and do all your observing outside. Heating and viewing through glass are "no no's" for astronomy really. It's tough enough dealing with the issues posed by our weather, the atmosphere and light pollution without adding further obstacles to getting the faint light from these distant objects into our eyes

[swamp thing]

TBH trying to observe planets from inside a heated building whether through an open or closed window is going to be a train wreck.

It's just impossible to observe planets like this.

The lack of optical quality glass in double glazing will destroy any chance of a decent image, and if you open the window the escaping heat haze will ruin the image.

To observe planets, relatively high power is needed. This needs steady air, the further away from buildings giving of heat haze the better.

Regards Steve

[Jiggy 67]

When you're observing through glass you're magnifying every imperfection in the glass....you've got no chance of seeing anything. Astronomy is an outside pastime only unless you have a purpose built observatory

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[hemihaggis]

outside and play with your toys .... thank you very much :)

[mcvsheff]

Cheers guys I'm guessing the loft was a bad idea

Would an upgrade to my EPs be a worthy investment?

[rwilkey]

Hi, you could certainly upgrade your ep's sometime, but it's better to get used to using your scope and the ep's it came with first, don't run before you can walk.

[nckjsmitj]

I got my the same scope for Christmas. The eyepieces are rubbish. Also I found the collimation was out. Kit your self out with a good 30mm eyepiece and you'll enjoy a great deal more...