View of Jupiter 8" Dob Help

[source]

Hi guys

Just started this hobby and wanted to get some input. I got an OrionXT8 Dob. I live in the suburbs so have moderate light pollution. I can just see a 4.8 mag star on a dark night without the moon. When I view Jupiter I see a yellow glowing orb, which has faint detail of a couple of bands across it. Also its quite bright, also giving off 4 'arms' like a bright star would in the eyepiece, at the edges. However, I came across this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ProOhknvS3o and what the person see's there is monumentally different to what I see. There is no bright yellow orb, and the detail is extremely better.

I was wondering, could my lack of seeing it like this be because of light pollution, or bad collamination or because its low on the horizon or some other factor? Could someone give an expectation of what I should be seeing?

Thanks a lot.

Daniel

[ronin]

The 4 spikes are the arms of the spider that hold the secondary mirror in position. Nothing you can really do, they come with the scope design.

If I recall the Orion comes with 1 eyepiece, a decent plossl.

Jupiter is possibly too bright as the eyepiece is too long to deliver high magnification. In effect all the light you collect is getting stuffed into a small image so it comes out bright. This brightness swamps the image and you see no or little detail.

At a complete guess look at an 8mm eyepiece.

Why yellow no real idea, always white to me, good or bad but white.

What is the scope focal length and what is the supplied eyepiece ?

With that you may get a few more accurate recommendations.

One point to remember is that the Youtube thing is a video and the person can adjust the contrast and gain, and the camera reacts different to you eyes. Simply any video will be different to what you see. Also people tend to put up their good results, not the piles of poo that went wrong.

[source]

Thanks for all the info ronin!

I will try with a 8mm eyepiece the next time I get a chance. I've actually got a 17mm nagler and 13mm nagler. I've got an orion shorty plus barlow but still need to barlow the 17mm to an 8.5mm. I've used a 13mm, there's a bit more detail. Thanks for clarifying though, I was under the impression that the lower magnification the more detail you see but the object is smaller. But what you're saying is if there's too much light collected it can wash out the image and details on certain objects like planets. I haven't really tried with anything less than the 13mm, so thats most likely the problem. Orion's nebula looks pretty beautiful in the 13mm, the grey diffuse nebula is pretty vivid, even with the light pollution.

[AndyWB]

It's also worth noting that conditions can vary immensely. I've seen Jupiter look crystal clear one night, and like a blurred spot a few nights later, from the same place, same kit. I do see it as a pale yellow orb. With my 250px and an 8mm I also see the two main bands and, depending on the night, up to 4 or so other narrow bands.

[Paul73]

+1 for the previous posts.

Jupiter is often at its best when there is a bit of a haze or, bizarrely, when there is a bright moon. It is just too bright for its own good. If you go too short on the focal length / too high on the mag, then you need really really good seeing to get much other than fleeting glimpses through the frustrating sheathing mush of atmospheric turbulence.

8mm is a pretty good compromise but was too short for lat night's conditions. 16mm was way too bright (normally my best Jupiter eyepiece unless seeing is really good).

Paul

[itmo]

Also be very patient when focusing the telescope. Try looking at the moons when focusing or the contrast between the side of the planet and black space. Try to make them as sharp as possible. Then wait for the image to ebb and flow and start doing very very small adjustments to try to tease more details out of the planetary disc. I have a 1:10 focuser and even with the "lower gear" I use my fingertips to do minute adjustments. 

[ronin]

Other then Jupiter how is the Orion on other objects ?

[source]

Thanks for the tips and replies guys This forum is great.

The only other objects I've been able to view is Orion Nebula and Carina Nebula (I'm in the southern hemisphere). Of the two Orion is the more brighter and beautiful. I really love looking at Orions Nebula. My family was not impressed with the views, as I think they were expecting hubble kind of stuff hehe. But I love the observing aspect of the hobby so far. Although, at the moment trying to deal with comfort at viewing. I think I need an observing chair because after a few minutes of observing in bent over or twisted positions my body is really taking strain, which makes me unable to concentrate on viewing properly.

But ye to last poster, the Orion has been great on Orions Nebula lol. I have yet to view the moon as its not visible at night at the mo.

[AlexB67]

An observing chair really helps, or something to sit on.  I got one of these cheap solutions recently I find it to work well,

http://www.philipmorrisdirect.co.uk/leifheit-multiseat-niveau-ironing-chair/product/

but before that I always used my simple garden furniture, like this one without a height adjustment

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6001704.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:7909258007|tsid:41409|cid:161744807|lid:52923816647|nw:g|crid:33736004207|rnd:1160173859881320574|dvc:c|adp:1o5

which I have found to work perfectly well also. I guess I am bit over 6 ft, so even on a normal chair I can reach to good height without any strain using my 10 inch Dob. I don't mind bending or stretching my back a bit to adjust on a normal chair, as long as you can keep still without getting tensed up, that is the main thing so you can spend those long periods at the eyepiece and not cause unwanted vibrations. 

[Peter Drew]

Hello Daniel. I have a XT8 and I can assure you that on a good night and the ideal magnification of around 150x-200x it is capable of showing plenty of detail on Jupiter including the GRS and transits of the moons and their shadows.    

[Tiny Small]

I've had 400x out of my 250px with crystal clear and perfectly sharp detail when the conditions have been right (barlowed 6mm) but recently the conditions have been a bit naff and I have been struggling to get anything decent even at 100x. 54x is proving acceptable but in a 70 degree FoV, Jupiter is then very, very small.