Not what I expected?

[Gearhead125]

Just purchased a skyprodigy 130 Newtonian, and I'm not sure if I'm correctly using the scope or it's as good as it going to get. The moon was great to look at but looking at mars or Venus it Looks like a tiny circle still. The eye peices that came with it are 9 and 25 mm.

Hopefully the eyepeices are the problem but if it is the limitations of the scope how big of a scope do I need to see deep space and much larger views of planets

[jflowers]

Mars is always just a small orangey disk to me, sometimes with some darker details and with good seeing, an ice cap Venus should be a small crescent shape, like a crescent moon. Did you manage a look at Jupiter or Saturn? Those will impress I am sure

[DOBBY]

Mars & Venus can be disappointing in the best of 'scopes.. try having a look at Saturn

[ronin]

The 9mm will give 72x, the 25mm will supply 26x. The 72x may be OK for Venus, neither will be any good for Mars.

For Mars you need much higher magnifications 200x+.

Venus will be a cresent and remember that Venus is a cloud covered planet. So you will be looking at the top of a cloud covered planet.

What did you expect ?

[brantuk]

Not everything is the same size up there in space and there are different ways of viewing or imaging objects with a variety of eyepieces, cameras, and scopes. A little background reading on the target object often helps to choose the right combination of kit to use.

But supplied eyepieces, whilst not the best, are usually just enough to get you going with your scope. This is because everyones eyes are different and eyepieces are very much a personal choice. To find out what suits you best join an astro soc or attend a star party and try out several different types - most folks will be happy to lend you an eyepiece to try.

My best view of venus so far was with a 32mm eyepiece at 63x magnification in an Sct on a clear evening just after sunset. I could clearly see the phase and a blue'ish tinge - but it was small. Allways take prevailing atmospheric and positional conditions into account for best results