Telescope capable of viewing Jupiter's bands and red spot

[IanPozz]

Afternoon all, this is my first foray into this great looking forum and I come seeking advice.

I've always had an interest in astronomy and often spoke about buying a telescope so I was overjoyed when my girlfriend bought me one for my birthday. She bought me a Meade 114/900 EQ 1-B which came with 9mm and 25mm eyepieces, it's pretty basic and easy enough to setup so I was soon viewing the moon and trying to look at some planets, given how visible Jupiter has been since the turn of the year that was an obvious choice to find. I found Jupiter easy enough but the amount of detail I could pick up was poor, it was just a big yellow blob in the sky and neither of the eyepieces made it appear with any more detail.

Like a lot of newbies I've got a thing about looking at Jupiter and seeing the bands, moons and the Great Red Spot but alas my telescope seems incapable of picking up these details.

So, I'm after advice as to what size telescope and eye pieces I need to pick up these details. I'd love to take some photos so a telescope with the capability to do so would be an added bonus.

Thanks in advance.

Ian

[ronin]

Quite a number should be capable, so expect an assortment of answers.

To view Saturn and Jupiter the best I have looked through would be a Tal 100mm refractor and an 8mm eyepiece.

Saturn was detailed and Jupiter would be the same.

The GRS may be a problem, the GRS is not that Great and neither generally is it Red, you either need a sharp image or a big image to bring it out.

Something like an Evostar 102 should perform much the same.

My experience of looking through an SCT (14" and 8") at Jupiter has been best described as disappointing. I read they are good and sharp but never experienced that. So I cannot say get a 127Mak and go for it. May well have been just bad luck on my side.

Something like the standard 8" reflector should do it, but they can be a little "soft", caused by the secondary and the spiders. Again the planets should be good and again the GRS may be the troublesome bit.

Now imaging: That really means different equipment to visual. For visual it is a nice big scope, for imaging it is a nice small scope. Manual dobsonians are out of it.

Planetary imaging can and is often done with a Mak on an Alt/Az mount and a webcan. So the SCT/Mak satisfies vosual and planetary imaging (Not DSO imaging).

Your llocation of UK is no good to suggest clubs, they are a good place to see what is used, haow they are used and hopefully have a look through one.

One other point is you are talking in the post of planets - there are not many planets.

I suspect the standard 200P dobsonian, think it is f/6, may be the best option and throw the idea of getting images. Just buy say the 8mm BST and one or two others.

Also how big is the total budget?

[JED-E3]

I think your chances of seeing detail on jupiter have gone for the time being, your telescope should be capable of showing the cloud bands using your 9mm eyepiece (100x magnification) but it's too low in the sky and sets too early. Saturn is a better target at the moment but even that is too low in the sky, from the uk, to give up much detail.

There are many factors that have an influence of the quality of planetary views these include; Seeing conditions both locally and at altitude, height of the planet above the horizon, position of the planet in its orbit(relative to earth and sun),  thermal equilibrium of the telescope, collimation of the telescope, size/type/quality of the telescope/eyepiece combination.

If you get it just right you can get truly stunning views, I've seen swirling cloud patterns on jupiter with my 8" skywatcher dob and bst eyepieces but that was at 3am November 2013 when it was 60° above the horizon, and even then the clarity of the view varied from one moment to the next.

As stated above your best bet is to find a local astronomy club and have a look through a few different  telescopes because you could spend loads of money and still be disappointed with what you can see.

James.

[Moonshane]

I agree that you should see the detail mentioned with your current scope but at the right time of year. In fact, you can see moons in your lite finder/binoculars. If you have a moon filter maybe try that but the main things to do at about 100x or so are leave the scope outside for half an hour before observing, find the best focus point and leave it after that and look for at least ten minutes or so.

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. It takes time and lots of practice to see the details on Jupiter. You have to make sure your scope is cooled to the ambient temperature and that your eyes are fully dark adapted. At the moment the planet is low in the sky in the west. You are viewing through lots of turbulent atmosphere and in a relatively bright sky. This means that the detail is just not available. You will have to wait until later in the year, when the planet is much higher to get reasonable views. Your kit should let you see the main cloud bands and if the seeing is very good the GRS, but you may have to go to a dark site to see this.

Do not be too hasty in spending money on new kit. Go to your local club. Try out the different types of scope and be sure that you get the right instrument to meet your needs.

As for photography, I am purely a visual observer and not really qualified to help you there. I do know it can be a very expensive business and that it is not really possible to get a set up to suit both visual and photographic.

I am afraid there is no short cut to success. It takes lots of patience and practice, but you will get there in the end. As they say, the longer you look the more you will see

[happy-kat]

I can see the 2 main bands in a little 80mm refractor so your 114mm telescope has the ability to see them.

You need good seeing conditions and time to sit and observe.

You are also using the eyepieces that came with your telescope I would look to buy one high powered eyepiece. Perhaps something like a bst explorer ED 8mm which after reading other posts is near the sweet spot for your telescope 900/114. I have never used one but they appear popular and the price is good.

You could try having fun imaging with a webcam on the Moon and planets using your existing setup.

[brrttpaul]

Just as a side note your girlfriend will forever regret the day she bought you the scope, and you will wonder why you never have money anymore lol

[Dave Lloyd]

Welcome Ian, that's a more than adequate scope to see bands and satellites under good conditions.

[IanPozz]

Many thanks for all the advice, it's most appreciated. The telescope that was bought for me was second hand so it may need some maintenance carrying out on it, are there any basic maintenance tasks a novice can carry out which may improve my viewing experience?

I live in Durham and there would appear to be a club nearby which will be reconvening in September so I'll definitely look to start going there.

Once again, many thanks.

Ian

[bingevader]

A local club is a great idea!

I shouldn't worry too much about maintenance at the moment if you are able to get objects, such as the moon, in good focus.

If the days are long and the nights are poor, you could have a go at collimating the 'scope, but it's not something to rush into, especially if your views are pretty good already.

The same goes for cleaning optics, they've got to be pretty grimy before they affect the view.

If the primary mirror looks okay (including dust specks) I'd leave it alone.

If you want to have a go at the eye pieces then Baader Optical wonder fluid is the job.