Objects much smaller than expected

[FinnKonkin]

Hello all. For christmas I got an Orion StarBlast 6 inch reflector telescope on a altazimuth mount. I have seen many pictures of jupiter on the internet, and they are all much bigger than what I can see. Even when the pictures say captured through a 6 inch telescope, they are around 20 times bigger than what I see. I have lots of lenses, and a 2x barlow. When I put in my 6mm lens with a barlow it gets bigger, but no where near the size of the images on google. Are they zoomed in on the pictures? Were they edited? Why is what I'm seeing so small? By the way I have little astronomy experience, (been stargazing 7 times or so). Thanks.

[Laurie61]

I think the main point to remember is you are not doing anything wrong. The view through an eyepiece will be smaller than an image taken with a camera and then processing applied. When observing you have to train your eye/brain to extract detail which may sound strange but it does work. This does take time to learn although some pick it up more quickly than others  Stick at it and see how you get on. 

[Cornelius Varley]

Imaging is a totally different concept to visual observing. Planetary imagers work at very long focal lengths to obtain their images and the equivalent optical magnification is beyond the capabilities of the telescope.

[mitchelln]

Check out this excellent thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see

[FinnKonkin]

Ah. Ok I was wondering if they use post processing effects to magnify/ enhance the image. Thanks guys.

[ronin]

Yes, they are process and magnified.

In effect what you will actually see and what is printed or displayed are somewhat different.

Easy way of seeing this is to search for images of M42, Orion Nebula.

There will be loads and they will be evey colour combination you can think of.

Been to the scope at Vanier Park ?

[Langy]

Even on the website here people taking images of Jupiter will use a webcam. The sensor in the webcam is very small and therefore when the light in the scope hits it the projected image will seem much bigger.

For example here is my Jupiter image with a cheap xBox webcam and 2x Barlows on a 130 scope and 650 focal length. Even if I view it at 160x in an EP it doesn't seem as big as the image. The image hasn't been increased in size at all, just how it was recorded. This is with a webcam that cost less than £5, so you can probably guess what a good webcam and a better scope may well produce.

The other thing you will also find is that everything in the scope is all black and white and shades of grey. Cameras are more sensitive to pick up colour where our eyes cannot see.