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Hello from sussex, and a question


KevinWilcox

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Hello, I’m a new, novice stargazer in Sussex, having recently bought a nice second hand orion 6” reflector after many years dithering. So far so good, I’ve learned where to find a few things in the sky, though haven’t quite found the gumption to stay up until the small wee hours or get up extra early just to see some of the planets!

I have a question, which I suspect is typical of many new starters. I have what I thought was a reasonable size telescope (6” f5) and a few evidently decent lenses including a 10mm and 2 x barlow, yet have been quite disappointed at how tiny the images are in the eyepiece. If I use my recently bought BST 4mm the image quality is noticeably less coherent than with the 10mm + barlow, and if I put the barlow on the 4mm, it’s just above fuzz. Am I getting it wrong somewhere along the line? How come I see all these lovely photos of Saturn but all I can see is a tiny white globe and undifferentiated rings? Same with Jupiter, just shades of white and grey, no colours at all? Is it simply a question of the telescope being too small?

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

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Hi and a warm welcome to the Lounge  :smiley:

You are certainly not alone in finding out visual observing can be somewhat of a disappointment, based on glorified glossy magazine photographs of what people can see through their telescopes. 

Regards seeing colour renditions of objects isn't possible due to the nature of your eyesight. It converts to monochrome in the dark, to help you distinguish objects. OK if you have a much larger scope which makes the objects brighter you may see some sort of colour. Images like the planets in our solar system are small and a considerable distance from our Earth and to actually view them through a bit of metal & glass has to be one of the wonders of science. There is so much for you to see and learn. If visual observing is for you I suggest a book called Turn Left at Orion. An enjoyable read that's very educational, will show you the celestial objects to look for, how to find them and without boring you. 

cheers

Steve

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Hi and welcome to SGL - Sadly I know nothing about visual, so can't help there, but people will be along soon that will be able to help. Steve's post is already bang on the money.

Look forward to seeing you around and good luck :smiley:

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Hello Kevin and welcome to SGL! Yes the likes of the Hubble Space Telescope has spoilt us all, but unfortunately with amateur gear, those sort of views are not possible visually. Using a camera on the other hands can open up the colous, andstacked multiple subs 'see' more than your eye ever will. Don't be too disappointed though , there are still some marvellous sites to view out there!

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Hi Kevin welcome to the lounge,

your 4mm BST planetary eyepiece will be ok observing the Moon,

but the seeing would have to be exceptional to be of use on much

else, the disappointment of the size of objects is expected but trying

to expand the view only distorts the image, you have to get used to

observing with an eyepiece that will give you detail rather than size.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's 

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Welcome Kevin, I agree with others that observing can sometimes be a disappointment, especially if comparing with photographs taken with specialist equipment. For visual astronomy, then a copy of 'Turn Left at Orion' is a really useful tool, not only for giving precise locations where to find many deep space objects, but also for images which give an indication how they will appear through a modest scope. Good luck and all the best

Phil

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Hello and welcome from me too   :smiley:

It's worth spending time at the scopes observing - as you look for longer, you will see more details come into focus.  I remember the first time I saw the Cassini division on Saturn's rings - just suddenly become visible.  That was using a 6" scope, so your scope should be capable of seeing a fair bit of detail, with good seeing and some patience   :smiley:    It's a bit of a learning curve, but bigger doesn't always mean clearer and better.

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Using a Barlow with the 4mm in effect making a 2mm that's 375x magnification which is pushing it to far. They say 50% of aperture so that's 300x  but that is an exception in very good seeing conditions on a very still night. i get very good results Using a Barlow with my BST 8mm in good seeing conditions otherwise i just use my 8mm to view Jupiter and Saturn.

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Hi Kevin, welcome aboard from me too, another visual observer.  Your telescope is a great scope for looking at the cosmos, and next time you look at Jupiter, look at it for a bit longer as this planet is one of the few where you can actually detect some colour in the equatorial cloud belts, 'looking' is actually an art that takes a bit of getting used to in visual astronomy, so keep at it and try to understand what you are seeing.  Another target for you is double stars and quite often you can see colour in these, such as in Alberio, the head of the swan in Cygnus, a great and colourful double star.  Get yourself a good star atlas sometime, such as the Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger Sinnott, has great maps of the night sky and many deep sky objects, highly recommended, as is Stellarium, a free planetarium software from: http://www.stellarium.org/

So enjoy your adventure into this consuming hobby and get to know the wonders of the night sky.  Good luck!

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Hi, Kevin, and a warm welcome to SGL! Some excellent advice already given - I would just add my support for 'Stellarium' which, apart from showing you were thinbgs are in the sky, can also be customised to your scope - giving you an idea of what objects should look like through your eyepiece.

Martin

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Hi kevin you have got 2 problems the first is the eyepiece your using its to powerful for the scope you would be better off using a 25 mm with a barlow .barlows darken the image so you see more detail . Second is your scope has quite a short focal length so it takes in more light a scope with a focal length of at least f8 would be a lot better to see planets because it let's in less light I found this when I changed from a 5 inch f4 scope to a 5 inch f10 scope

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Hi - welcome Kevin - I think the eye never sees colours well in astronomical observing so cameras give a very different view - I was disappointed that a lot of auroras are seen as grey not greens and reds as in camera shots - still the views with your scope without great colours will still be stunning! - best wishes and good luck- Tony

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Many thanks for all the replies and welcomes. I think I overstated my disappointment, it is pretty amazing to be able to see the shadow of one of Jupiters moons on it's surface and already I 'see' something very different in my minds eye when looking at a sky with the naked eye. I have quite a few questions that I'd like to ask but will hunt around the forum first as I'm sure there'll be a relevant section.

thanks again, Kevin

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