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woodmeister

By woodmeister
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woodmeister

woodmeister

Posted
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Hi everyone noob here.

I currently own a 8 inch skywatcher dob (f6) and have viewed a handful of messier objects and planets.

Currently trying to view detail on mars but it eludes me. Does anybody have any advice or suggestions that could help a noob manage to see any detail on mars.

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hobbes22

hobbes22

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Hi welcome to SGL, what eyepieces do you have? I have the same scope and with my old 6mm planetary ep, Mars was just clear enough to see some detail. I have now sold that and replaced it with a 8mm BST starguider but haven't had chance to try it yet.

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AstroAdam

AstroAdam

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Hi Woodmeister.  

The 8" Skywatcher is a great scope - have one myself!  I never had much luck with Mars until I bought some better eyepieces.  The ones that come with the scope aren't terrible, but they're not great.  Also a good ice to make sure the scope is collimated properly.  Not as scary as it sounds, and can improve the detail on planets no end.  there are plenty of tutorials on the web...

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ronl

ronl

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Hi and welcome to the lounge,

if you are using the stock eyepieces that came with the scope then you may

struggle, the 10mm is not great, plus you need good viewing conditions,for the

best views you will need to upgrade your eyepiece, the best value for money

are the BST StarGuider which are found on e-Bay.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's

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woodmeister

woodmeister

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Thx for the warm welcome guys appreciate it. Apart from the 2 eyepieces  I got with the scope, I also own a 7mm celestron x-cel lx eyepiece which I like a lot and a celestron omni barlow which seems alright but not that great.

As far as I know I have collimated my scope as well as I can using a Cheshire and a collimation cap. I also usually leave my scope out for about 20-30 mins before viewing (scope stays in unheated conservatory anyway) so I hope that is long enough for sufficient cooling.

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wookie1965

wookie1965

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They say 10minutes cooling per inch so that's 1 hour 10 in your case the 7mm should give you some nice views and Barlowed only on very good seeing nights, that's the thing with this dark sky's, seeing conditions, cooling and good eyepiece, if your collimated well bringing  all things together  and you spend some time viewing Mars you will start to see detail

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faulksy

faulksy

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hi and welcome to sgl. mars is tricky, you need to leave it as late as you can in the evening so that its high up, make sure your not looking at it over heat sources, houses for example and make sure your scope is cooled to ambient temperature

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