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Hello everyone, I am new to stargazing and also to this website and I am hoping for a bit of help from you experienced folks. 

First of all, I have just bought a Skywatcher Skyliner 150P dobsonian and I'm starting to get used the mechanisms and eyepieces I have. Now when I bought the TS I was looking at some reviews and many of them mentioned seeing the rings and moons of Saturn and Jupiter, now I have done the math and the highest magnification I have with the eyepieces recieved with it was 120x, roughly. Now when I look at what I know to be Jupiter through this eyepiece I can only see an obviously more magnified version of what I see in the sky, am I doing something wrong here? I am also in the middle of a city, but the light pollution in my area isn't ridiculous I can see a lot of stars, could this be a problem?

Also if you could recommend any extra pieces I could buy to better my viewing please recommend away, I am too much of a rookie to know what to get, although I have looked at a Barlow for it already; but if you can tell me any specific barlow that would be great.

Thanks for your help :)

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Given good seeing conditions, you should be able to make out at least the two main cloud bands on Jupiter ( a friend I showed Ol' Jove to aptly described it as looking like a cricket ball - not colour, but the seams) & the four Galilean moons.

What are your eyepieces?

Not sure what you mean by a 'more magnified version of what I see in the sky'.....er, yes? That's kinda the point! ;)     j/k

Jupiter, like Saturn & her Rings, & pretty much like everything else 'up there' rewards time & patience at the eyepiece - a lesson I have only just recently learned myself. 

Edit/  And have a look here: very, very useful information:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

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You have to get the focus spot on, and then really concentrate and focus your eyes on Jupiter, keep staring and you should see the bands, and possibly the red spot. In any case, look for a line of "stars" across the diameter, those are the moons. Using an app or a webpage you will be able to determine which moons you are looking at, just put in the date/time.

Ghostdance - off topic (Apologies OP) - is that a real trout mask you are wearing?

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Sounds like nothing wrong, but Jupiter at 120x is still small, it will never knock you off your feet in apparent size.

To see Saturn you will need 120x, the rings should appear OK but not sure of the level of detail that will be apparent, not of your expectations. I am not sure about using the supplied 10mm, usually it is not that good. They are supplied so that you can see something, not that you can see something well.

Not sure how well Saturn is placed at present, it is better in mid 2015, sort of May, and you may need to consider a better eyepiece. A reasonable 10mm or, better still, an 8mm.

If you are basing idea on images then forget the comparison.

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Welcome to the forum. A 150P is a great first telescope. Some people can be suprised by just how difficult Jupiter can be to observe.

Yes it is a very obvious naked eye target, as seeming to be bigger than any of the visible stars that are around, but viewing through the telscope can be a real challenge.

The atmosphere and what is termed 'seeing' plays a huge role in being able to resolve detail on the planet. Fully and correctly focused on a good night you should be able to see at least 2 distinct bands, maybe the GRS, and polar regions with the supplied EPs. Local light polution will have a seriously negative effect.

Even from my dark site when observing Jupiter, there will be times when it seems like a shimmering haze is passing over the surface, a bit like when staring at the horizon and your eye glazes over. This is the effect of the atmosphere 'seeing' conditions.

Oddly, with a telescope it is not really magnification that concerns us, but how clearly we can see an object or part of an object in the FOV. In other words how we can view dimmer objects and thus more detail although a smaller field.

Think about Cassiopeia, the big W. Naked eye we see W and slightly further out the bright star Mirach, now with the 25mmEP we can clearly see the W and the evident constellation lines of Andromeda (Mirach is the bright star) and the other stars in this constellation with a faint hint of the famous Andromeda Galaxy. This arouses our interest and so we center the fuzzy blob in the 25mm and now swap in the 10mm. Immediately we see that some of the stars have slipped out of vision but we have a better view of the fuzzy blob.

I bought a 6mm (see sig) EP for the 150/750, brings out detail on Jupiter and the Moon, but Jupiter is still only the apparent size of a small pea.

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Your dob has a focal length of 1200mm and I like to view Jupiter & Saturn at magnifications between 150x and 200x - mostly around 180x. A 8mm eyepiece would give you 150x and a 6mm gives 200x. It is possible to view at lower mags but obviously the longer the eyepiece the lower the magnification.

You also need to bear in mind viewing conditions (i.e. the "seeing"). Seeing needs to be good and several factors influence this. E.g. high level whispy cloud, atmosphere density, height of object above the horizon, transparency, temperature, light pollution, etc to name but a few. To give yourself a head start choose a very dark site on a crystal clear night, view objects that are high in the sky so you're looking through less atmosphere than viewing close to the horizon, and colder nights give a much more settled view than warm nights. Ensure your scope has adequate cooling time (30mins to 1hr) and choose the best quality eyepieces that budget allows.

A decent barlow can be a useful accessory, though it does put extra glass in the light train. A single eyepiece giving the mag you want is always going to be a little bit better. Hth :)

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Hey, thanks for all your help, it all seems to be falling into place now. Had a look at Jupiter last night and could see that and three of the Galilean Moons, so that was pretty sweet. Just need to buy a barlow and maybe a few other add ons, does anyone suggest using a Moon filter? It looks great looking at it anyway but it is awfully bright and kinda hurts my eyes after a while.

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Hello,

You have a capable scope but it needs managing.....

1. You have to observe outdoors - don't laugh some people observe through the lounge window.

2. The scope needs to cool down - set it out at least 30mins before you want to observe.

3. Make sure collimation is good - thare are loads of articles online or do sn SGL search.

4. Replace the eyepieces that came with the scope with BST's or Hyperions.

5. Expectations - you will not see anything like the photos in the books.

6. Planets are better the higher they climb in the sky

Apologies if you know all this already

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with the eyepieces recieved with (Jupiter) was 120x, roughly. Now when I look at what I know to be Jupiter through this eyepiece I can only see an obviously more magnified version of what I see in the sky, am I doing something wrong here? I am also in the middle of a city, but the light pollution in my area isn't ridiculous I can see a lot of stars, could this be a problem?

Also if you could recommend any extra pieces I could buy to better my viewing please recommend

Hiya Rwiddowson,

Although Saturn might be the jewel of the night sky, I find Jupiter a lot more interesting. There's so much going on from night to night but don't worry about not seeing too much on your first sessions, that's entirely understandable. I promise you, so as your 150 is well collimated, the sky conditions are playing game and you're sitting comfortably, the more you observe, the more you will see :grin:.

Nick has recently made an excellent post about observing Jupiter which you may find useful - along with the posts thereafter added. There are also a couple of links you might be interested in. The first has some good information about Jupiter and the other planets and if you click on Jupiter's 'apparent view', you'll be able to play around with times and dates and image to see what might be happening at the time you are able to observe. Another useful link is Jupiter 2, a free software which functions in a similar manner to the former link :smiley:.

Your 6" will reveal a significant amount of detail but you need to sit quietly for quite sometime, relaxed in a comfortable position and allow your eyes to respond to the faint delicate markings, the subtle whisps and desert shades which are present on the Jovian disk.  Visual observing is quite hard work but the more you do it the better you get and the more you will see.

The problem right now is that Jupiter isn't really in a great position to be viewed early in the evening, so if possible try to get out after 10pm and try to view Jupiter as close to the zenith as possible.

When it comes to Jupiter and other planets, good seeing conditions override problems with light pollution and assuming your collimation is spot on the right magnification for Jupiter - as with most celestial objects - is relative to the seeing conditions. So long as the disk is sharp and well focused, we're doing alright. You could perhaps push more power than 120x but it will suffice. On an average night, Jupiter should handle around between 140x and 170x with relative ease and on a good night, you may be able to tweak 200x.

I've found a light blue filter (Wratten 80a) or a Neodymium filter sometimes help to bring out subtle band features but I would recommend not to buy any fileters for Jupiter until a later date. Mot times, I prefer observing Jupiter without any kind of filter and it seems most other observers feel the same.

On your next session you may want to try your hand at skecthing. It surprising how much it helps train the eye. Over the last week or so, I've been using a little 76mm and have been able to pull together rough sketches like these:

post-21324-0-39022800-1420253070.jpg
post-21324-0-00042400-1420457770.jpg
You might find this link of interest, where I've tried to draw together some tips for observing Jupiter.
On a final note, I wouldn't buy any knew gear for a while. There's really no hurry and I feel it is better to value and evaluate your gear before purchasing more eyepieces. Soon enough, your telescope will start talking to you, and it will let you know what you may need :icon_biggrin:

Welcome to SGL :hello:

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Hey, thanks for all your help, it all seems to be falling into place now. Had a look at Jupiter last night and could see that and three of the Galilean Moons, so that was pretty sweet. Just need to buy a barlow and maybe a few other add ons, does anyone suggest using a Moon filter? It looks great looking at it anyway but it is awfully bright and kinda hurts my eyes after a while.

I have a filter as this was recommended as a must have when I first started and it has spent most of it's time in my eyepiece case. This is my personal observation and I know others feel differently.

To save you some money for the moment you could try wearing sunglasses when viewing the moon and see if this helps.

Good luck and enjoy.

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