Improvement Sggestions Please

[feisar]

Hiya guys, I have posted on here in the past and you gave me excellent advice. I have seen some lovely views of the moons surface but not much else. I would be very interested in looking at our solar system, e.g saturn, venus.

You must get board of newbies posting the same old questions, sorry. But speaking to people with experience is sometime easier and more helpful than reading books. I do have books but I have little time to spend reading them.

What I really want to know is how can I get the best out of my scope, how can i get a lovely view of saturns rings for example?

My specs are:

D114mm F900mm

4" reflector

2 x Barlow

1.5 x Erecting Eyepiece

PL10mm eyepiece

K25mm eyepiece

1 x moon filter

Is my PL eyepiece any good? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250214228010&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=015

What manufacturers can I trust?

Thanks in advance

[Mike666]

Hello there,

im a noob on here and Saturn is my fave,

try some orthoscopic eyepieces, more contrast, less light distortion.

Ive spent bucket loads on eyepieces and my fave one for Saturn cost me 25 quid.........high cost is not always best.........its what suits you

[aries]

Hi Feisar,

I'm also a noobie, and have had some good views of saturn with a scope very similar

to your own, but i haven't got super plossl EP's, only Kellner's, and by what you have said about your own setup, it looks like one of yours maybe a Kellner also, The 25mm. Thats what the K stands for before the size.

I viewed Lord of the rings for the first time just recently, and was blown away with how much detail i got, a faint, but definate view of the rings, and the shadow of the rings cast upon the planets surface. With

"inferior" EP's, and before i go any further, the Kellner EP's are a fine piece of equipment for a set-up to get someone started in this fascinating hobby, but as time prgresses, so does technology, and now you have a vast array of EP's on the market that are, arguably, SUPERB

If you speak to steve or Greg at FLO, they will certainly point you in the right direction, and not try to baffle

you with to much in the way of techno-speak, but their explanation of the differences is really easy to understand. And by what i've learned so far, the super plossl's are a damn good EP! Hoping to have a couple of new EP's meself very soon, and put the Kellners away in a safe spot in case i need them for something

one day.

Best of luck with your quest, but your'e in the right place :wave:

And as for which brands to trust?

How long is a piece of string?

Nick..........

[MartinB]

Feisar, that scope should be capable of giving you some decent views of Saturn. I don't know anything about that eyepiece but a super plossl is a modern design which should be capable of delivering good views. The key to good views is to make sure your scope is well collimated. Do you know how to do this?

The other key to enjoyable viewing is to understand the sort of view you can expect get. Don't expect anything like the photos you see on here. You will find that saturn looks very small and pretty well white in colour. You are unlikely to be make out the black gap in the rings called the Cassini division with the rings at their current angle. Once you understand this you can get on and enjoy what you are able to see. I never tire of viewing Saturn and often enjoy low power views as much as high ones. See if you can make out the moons, make a note of their positions and see how they change from night to night.

[SteelRat]

Hello Feisar.

I've never used a Vivitar reflector before but my current main scope (a Tal1) is similiar in size - ie 4 and a bit inch wide mirror at f7 and a bit.

The standard eyepieces that came with my scope are 15mm kellner, 25mm plossl and a x3barlow. So the highest mag available for Saturn and the like was x161. I picked up a clean second hand 4mm ortho last year and normally use that for my highmag planetary viewing and afocal imaging nowadays, but I WILL say that Saturn never dissapointed at x161 with the original equipment.

I don't know the optical quality of your scopes' supplied eyepieces but the 10mm pl combined with your x2 barlow will give x180. Should be pretty good and is maybe just within limits - Saturn'll look better the higher in the sky it is. As Martin says the rings are quite closed up this year and will be even more so next year but still WELL worth a good look - I had a great night watching tiny little Mars in a 76mm newt not long back. If you REALLY feel the need to buy another eyepiece to try you might get on well with a 6mm orthoscopic for a crisp view at x150. Perhaps some other folks might have some other suggestions too?

Enjoy the scope.

Cheers

Matthew(SR)