Didn't see a thing!

[TwinkleTwinkle]

Please don't say I'm the only one! Iv got a feeling I may be a minority though! I spent a good 15 minutes aligning the scope , (trying to find mars) to find I'd not taken the lens cover off the eyepiece , nope that not all, another 5 or so minutes I didn't click on is not taken the scope protector off either, by this time my hands were freezing , somehow I eventually found mars ( no thanks to goto) and it looked dissappointing so I'm hoping my new lens that's getting delivered might improve that a bit any way that was it I packed it away till tommorow hoping I don't get the cloudy sky curse from buying new equipment !

Oh dear!

[TwinkleTwinkle]

I was wondering, I took this with my iPhone 5s, is the big bright one Jupiter? My scope tried taking me to Jupiter but I think my alignment is off so didn't see it, but was taking me around that area

[TwinkleTwinkle]

Sorry here it is

[jabeoo1]

Looking at you photo by clicking on it first then zooming in I think I can make out Castor & Pollox in Gemini. So I think you are looking at Jupiter not Mars.

[AndyWB]

I found Mars a little disappointing at first - it seems to require a lot of magnification, and then patience, before you can see detail. About x200 seems best to me. It's still small then, and it's certainly harder than Jupiter or Saturn.

[Dreamweaver]

Yes mars is still small at 200X but if you keep looking at it over time you will find that more and more detail will become evident in a subtly way. It might be hard to focus and to get a crisp image as the atmosphere will  make it appear to constantly go in and out of focus but stick with it. I am really enjoying Mars at the moment as it is right outside my front door. However I do have an irritating street light outside but still Mars is great to look at. The polar cap and dark mottling I can see easily now, it's better and sharper at 200x in the 80mm Apo with a 2.5 mm Nagler than at 285x through the 8" using my Celestron LX 7mm. 

[Charic]

Please don't say I'm the only one! Iv got a feeling I may be a minority though! I spent a good 15 minutes aligning the scope , (trying to find mars) to find I'd not taken the lens cover off the eyepiece , nope that not all, another 5 or so minutes I didn't click on is not taken the scope protector off either, by this time my hands were freezing , somehow I eventually found mars ( no thanks to goto) and it looked dissappointing so I'm hoping my new lens that's getting delivered might improve that a bit any way that was it I packed it away till tommorow hoping I don't get the cloudy sky curse from buying new equipment !

Oh dear!

TwinkleTwinkle.....Hi, I agree with jabe001, you have captured Jupiter with your iPhone.

As for your new eyepiece on order, (and you dont say what telescope your using) the eyepiece does magnify the image at the focal point, which allows you to see an enlarged focal image, but if the image at the focal plane is already struggling? the eyepiece wont improve things vastly.The eyepiece will only magnify the image that is provided by the telescope, it will never improve it, just magnifies it. So if you can obtain a perfect image from the teleescope, the viewed image should be perfect, if the telescope produces a so-so image, the final image will be so-so, just magnified.

My reason for this reply, is that some folk believe that the eyepiece alone will make the difference. Not So!

Most of us buy new eyepieces, because there is better quality available as compared to the supplied eyepieces. There is always room for some improvement, generally with the field of view, the eyerelief and the actual quality and feel of the lens.

Basically, to see further, brighter and larger, the telescope needs to be bigger?

When I say bigger, I`m referring to the Objective/Aperture size. Bigger will allow more light to be captured, allowing for a brighter image and larger image at the focal point. This coupled with the eyepiece of your choice, allows the object to appear larger, sharper and you'll see more detail as the result. I'm more than happy and for practical reasons, the setup I have, but for me to see bigger and brighter, I need a bigger telescope. Having a bigger telescope will cost more, be heavier, less portable, and possibly more selective on eyepieces

We all have different telescope sizes, and the replies speak for themselves, the final image is still very small if looking at Mars. I`m not saying the detail is not apparent, as AndyWB says, Mars is small, and his scope (250mm)is bigger than mine, yet Dreamweaver is using only 80mm and is able to see some  detail on Mars, but we would all benefit from a bigger Objective/Aperture This hobby is sometimes a no-win situation. You just cant have have everything, without something causing some minor setback.

For me the only setback is image scale, but I know whats needed to correct it!

[TwinkleTwinkle]

Hi thank you for your replies

It was mars I found , the picture I posted I assumed was Jupiter but didn't get the scope to align it so I didn't see it thank you for confirming it being Jupiter as I'll try and find it on the scope tonight - weather permitting !

My telescope is a nexstar 6SE , my baader zoom 24mmhas arrived today , I do hope it's better than the eyepiece that came with the scope

Thanks again for your replies and advice I will re read them later , as I always go back to my posts and try to absorb advice given, as i am finding it pretty difficult at the moment

[Astro Imp]

 Of the major planets Mars probable disappoints more than any as it is small without much contrast and really needs excellent seeing to bring out the subtleties.

Spend time looking and give yourself time to "get your eye in".

If you don't see a lot of detail to-night don't give up have another look to-morrow and again the next night. There will come a night when it all comes together and you will start to make out some surface detail, but it is not the easiest object to view and time spent at the eyepiece will eventually be rewarded.

Good luck.

[dick_dangerous]

I can get love from Mars with my 8mm BST in the Dob - that's x150. Not a huge amount of detail, but more than if I try to use the barlow lens and everything goes fuzzy. Time at the EP definitely helps on this one because any atmospheric disturbance mucks up the view and here in the UK we get a lot of disturbance!

DD