Few basic noob questions

[Daimo]

I'm trying to view Saturn through my scopes, but I've got a few niggles I've noticed when using it (and also the moon).  I'm wondering if its a simple noobie mistake, or whether I'm not doing something right.

Firstly, when I view the moon or Saturn (the first things I'm concentrating on), the light seems to reflect of the back of my eye and I can see lots of blue blood vessles instead of say the moons surface.  Sometimes its fine, other times I can't make it out, same goes for Saturn, sometimes I can just about make out the faint colour, other times its just the blood vessels again.  I'm not sure if its doing damage to my eye so I stop and pack up the scopes and go indoors again.

Secondly, (when the eye isn't playing up) Saturn...  I'm using both a Meade ETX70A, and Skywatcher SW 450 (old Blue style).  For Saturn I'm using the 9mm lense + Barlow lense.  With the Barlow it certainly makes the Planet + moons larger, and sometimes, just sometimes, I can make out the faint blue line around the planet.  I find I get a better image with the Skywatcher, and due to the limited sky view I have, the Meade proves difficult to allign.  The Skywatcher is more of a pain to move (it seems both eyepiece viewers are slightly out, so I have to search the last bit manually haha) but I seem to find a better view.

Is there anything I can do to improve what I can see slightly?

Both scopes were 2nd hand, so I guess they could do with a clean I'm presuming.  I'll look for a cleaning your scope post on this forum, but if anyone has got any other suggestions, I'd be grateful.

[Moonshane]

welcome to the forum. re cleaning, don't bother as it makes little/no difference and you can easily damage optics.

are you sure it's Saturn you are seeing not Jupiter? Saturn is extremely low in the morning sky and Jupiter is high in the evening sky, both east pretty much.

re the focusing issue, it sounds like you are well out of focus. are you using the 2" and the 1.25" extensions together in the 200 dob? you shouldn't.

other than looking at the sun with no filter or a bad filter, you cannot damage your eyes with anything in the night sky so don't worry about that.

hope this helps in some way.

[Daimo]

Oh my word, how to sound an utter simpleton IDIOT    I was talking to the wife about Saturn and somehow I ended up writing Saturn down instead of Jupiter, what an utter numpty. hahaha

Yes, sorry, Jupiter, replace Saturn with Jupiter.  I feel so stupid, and will blame the wife haha.

Yeah, the 9mm sits inside the Barlow (so its as far as it goes), then the Barlow is in the scope as far as it goes.

With the zooming, I can see the moons, the circle of the planet, its just being able to make the image a bit clearer.  I see a lot of people spend a lot of time setting up, where as (at the moment), I'm extending the tripod, putting the 9mm in, leaving it for 15-20 min to cool to outside temp, then going out for 10+ mins in the dark, allign it up with the 9mm, then swapping over to Barlow + 9mm, then adjusting slightly so its centered, then using the manual finger zoom until its at its best clarity.  Then spend a few more mins making sure that the best zoom possible.

Thats my method without reading up so far anyway haha.

Good to hear about the eye as well.  i'll never use it in daylight until I have proper filters if I get into it.  But seeing as the Moon and Jupiter are quite available at the moment, I thought it would be a good place to start.

[Charic]

Daimo........Hi,  try just the 9mm and see if you can see the detail. I see the weather belts on Jupiter quite easily with an 8mm on my scope. Maybe the 9mm + Barlow is just too much tonight? , Some nights work better than others due to atmospheric conditions. The highest magnification doesn't always bring the best results?

[Sandancer10]

Welcome to SGL, you are in the right place to find answers to just about anything here.

Just a couple of thoughts - do you have your viewfinder aligned properly with your scope? It's just you mentioned your ep's are slightly out.  If this is the problem then it's best to do it during the day by focusing on a distant object.  Once you have it correctly aligned it's much easier.

Try downloading Stellarium (it's free) for your pc and you will be able to identify the Planets, Moon etc.  Also you can change the time setting so allowing you to find the best viewing time  for objects.

Happy Stargazing

Brenda 

[jambouk]

Slightly off topic but i once posted an image of Jupiter but for some reason the file name was Mars! Lol.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Firstly, when I view the moon or Saturn (the first things I'm concentrating on), the light seems to reflect of the back of my eye and I can see lots of blue blood vessles instead of say the moons surface.  Sometimes its fine, other times I can't make it out, same goes for Saturn, sometimes I can just about make out the faint colour, other times its just the blood vessels again.  I'm not sure if its doing damage to my eye so I stop and pack up the scopes and go indoors again.

I get this with the Moon to a degree, basically your telescope is being turned into an ophthalmoscope such as your optician uses when checking your eye. If it's a problem to you, you could use a moon filter to reduce the brightness. Jupiter is much smaller in the eyepiece but has a higher surface brightness (brightness per unit of area), so I guess it could cause the same effect.

[Daimo]

Hey Charic, I've tried using the 9mm on its own.  I think it gives a clearer image, but not quite as much zoom.  I don't know if I'm viewing the scope correctly though.  I think I should read up on the basics as I can't be doing something right. 

Sanda, yeah they are deffo out of allignment, I need to do as you suggested to re-allign, but I can find what I'm after at the moment after a few minutes scanning around.

Knight, that sounds like the issue.  Is there any reason my scope would be doing this, or is it a weak eye?  It rarely does it with Jupiter, but it has done.  Do I just need a filter to bring the moon brightness down so it makes it more viewable? (I'm using the 25mm wide angle lense, but if I use the Barlow lens with this its impossible to see anything but blood vessles lol).

I find that if I view the side of the moon its ok with less reflective surface.  I tried it to see if it could be due to the light, and I was surprised how rugged the moon side was.  Certainly not the nice round ball it looked throughout my life haha.  (done this a few weeks ago at the full moon).

Mars just looks like a small red dot though.  Think I was expecting too much again lol.  Next up is Saturn, like most, the rings is something I hope to see.  I just need that "bit" more clarity through the lens.

Not even considered starting to view anything else.  Ison is out of my view range, and the only time I'm up at those hours is when I'm working nights from home (when I get to view my scopes most often).  Sods law, I leave them out to cool on a clear night, return an hour later, and its cloudy.  At least tonight its just cloud already haha.