Observing

[Garlic91]

I bought a telescope on Thursday having had an interest in the sky for some time, aligning my finder scope up using the moon was a fun task in its self. I have been able to locate Mars and it just appears as a really bright star through my scope, I've used the 10mm EP with the barlow provided and it still appears the same as it would to the naked eye, just more focused.. I have the following telescope.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

http://www.charleseaglesandson.com/astrolux%20700.htm

[ronl]

Mars when observed through a 70mm scope will be small, but using the 10mm and Barlow you

should see that it is a planet, are you sure the target was Mars, because if it wasn't it was a star,

and that would stay the same size, one of my scopes is a 90mm frac and I can see detail on Mars

and on good seeing nights the polar ice cap, if it was Mars then it might be the eyepiece and 

Barlow, mainly because they are not the best and only mediocre quality, but make sure your 

target was Mars, do you have http://www.stellarium.org/ it's free and will help you locate it, here 

is the user guide too http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide ,hope this helps

[LukeSkywatcher]

In a scope of 70mm with a focal length of 700mm, Mars is never going to be much to write home about. Add to this the fact you were using a 10mm EP with a 2x barlow, making your EP basically a 5mm and giving you a magnification factor of 140x.....................that is way too much magnification for your scope in this part of the world and local conditions. On a 70mm scope you could expect at the best of times to get about 100x magnification.

Dont lose heart. Mars is very difficult in most size scopes to see well, let alone any details.

[Gweedo]

Mars is pretty low at the moment - as such, we're looking at it through a lot of atmosphere which causes the clarity to be affected.  I was observing Mars the other night and from my site it was pretty blurry in spite of every thing; and this was a 10 inch scope.  For what it's worth, here's what I think:

Are you sure that your scope is in collimation?  Have a look at some of the threads on here about collimating your scope.

High magnifications often make the image worse; it's sometimes better to use a lower magnification.

Objects higher in the sky often appear clearer as there's less atmosphere to look through.

'Seeing' - that is the clarity of the atmosphere changes from night to night and hour by hour.  It could be that the general atmospheric conditions aren't that good.

Have a look at your observing site.  My home is at the bottom of a valley and it's pretty much atrocious all the time.  I get better seeing if I go up to the mountains.

Finally, your observing skills will sharpen the more you observe so keep at it!  

I hope that helps a bit.

[Pondus]

Heya

Are you sure your finderscope is properly aligned?  Mars should appear different than a star in your telescope, blurry maybe, but definitely different and bigger, especially at 140x.

It should not at all look like it does with naked eye.

I would recommend you to align your finderscope to something more accurate (smaller) than the moon.

Rune

[Astro Imp]

As others have said I would doubt that you were looking at Mars, are you sure? It could have Arcturus which is not that far from Mars at present and is also red.

To help find your way around down load Stellarium a free planetarium program. http://www.stellarium.org/

[Garlic91]

Mars when observed through a 70mm scope will be small, but using the 10mm and Barlow you

should see that it is a planet, are you sure the target was Mars, because if it wasn't it was a star,

and that would stay the same size, one of my scopes is a 90mm frac and I can see detail on Mars

and on good seeing nights the polar ice cap, if it was Mars then it might be the eyepiece and 

Barlow, mainly because they are not the best and only mediocre quality, but make sure your 

target was Mars, do you have http://www.stellarium.org/ it's free and will help you locate it, here 

is the user guide too http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide ,hope this helps

I've just observed it after looking at Jupiter. I know the scope is only basic but i already love this and want my next scope. I knew where Mars was as I can locate it using the naked-eye, I have an app to "sky-view"(?) which is quite good. Any suggestions of upgrades for my scope would be appreciated.

[Garlic91]

I have my scope set up now in my backyard and have located Jupiter and Mars thus far... anything I should look out for tonight? 

[Astro Imp]

Try M44 a big bright open cluster.

[Garlic91]

Try M44 a big bright open cluster.

To the left of Jupiter, going out to look now...

[Pondus]

Saturn.

Should be visible in southeast from midnight your location..

[Garlic91]

Came in as clouds are coming over, didn't get the chance to check for Saturn. Saw Jupiter which was class, want a better scope already. 

[jason.p]

Sounds like early onset aperture fever, for which there is no cure. Watch out for signs of "scope envy", another insidious condition which affects a large proportion of our community.

The only advice I can offer is to keep in touch with us at SGL for support and counselling.

Good luck

Jason