Help with Jupiter

[Rew1983]

Hi all. I am new to the hobby and only have a fairly basic sky watcher 60/700 refractor. I have just come in from the cold after a nice little session. I got some half decent pictures of the moon (I did this last)and managed to find the Orion Nebula with the help of stellarium. However, after looking at that for a while I decided to move on to Jupiter. I centred what I am fairly sure was Jupiter and moved to the 10mm EP. At this point I was disappointed....I'm not expecting to see it in any great detail, or even any detail but it just looked like a fairly average 'star'. Did I have the wrong target or is my telescope just that poor? Does anyone have any pics taken through a 60/700 or similar so that I can compare what I am seeing? Thanks a lot.

[Moonshane]

with your scope, a 10mm eyepiece would equate to 70x. This is more than enough magnification to see the four moons plus the main two bands on the surface. A little more magnification is better though if you have the eyepieces. If you cannot see a larger than usual (for a star) disk and moons either side then you are on the wrong target. Best bet is to use the moon to align your finder and then you should be able to see the moons in your finder too.

[Vox45]

I concure. I was at a friend's house who has the same scope as you and with a 10mm EP we were able to clearly see the moons and faint bands... It was pretty obvious that we were not looking at a star

Keep at it you should be able to see something

[StarSapling]

I started off with a 60mm scope (actually it was a 50mm scope), and with some experience at the eye piece, I had no problem seeing the moons and equatorial belts with it.  As already stated by others, just keep at it and you'll get it.

[Rew1983]

Thanks for the replies. I've just been back outside to have a look. I was focussing on the wrong object! I plan to get back out either tomorrow night or once I'm home on New Year's Eve to have a proper look at the correct object....doh!

[toftm]

All good fun, stick with it for a while & gradually you'll pluck out a little more. Love it

[Astro Imp]

Thanks for the replies. I've just been back outside to have a look. I was focussing on the wrong object! I plan to get back out either tomorrow night or once I'm home on New Year's Eve to have a proper look at the correct object....doh!

It does help to look at the right object 

Good luck you're sure to get there if you don't give up.

[Rew1983]

Well I went out again last night and got a great view of Jupiter and it's moons!! After looking for a while I'm sure I saw banding on Jupiter but may have imagined it!!! Great view of the Orion Nebula too

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chris_suffolk]

Glad you found it this time around, very satisfying isn't it! Problem I, and others have found, is it can get addictive, and you want a bigger scope to see more and then maybe a camera or two, and an obsy to put it all in, and, and, and......

Keep at it, you will enjoy it