I must be blind

[English111]

Hello I’m a completely new to this and have a  bresser messier 10 and I’m using a super plossl 25mm lens,I’ve followed the setup parts and can now see stars as little clear white dots but I cannot find planets I’m in Bulgaria at the moment with very clear sky’s no moon .am I doing something wrong or should I have more patience Saturn should be right in front of me but  I cant see it only a small clear dot.

[Anthonyexmouth]

with that eye piece it is going to be tiny. just a bright star. a 10mm will start to show it as a planet

[Knighty2112]

More magnification required, so the smaller the  umber printed on the EP the more the image will be magnified, so as Anthony says put your 10mm EP and try then.

[souls33k3r]

Is your finder scope aligned properly? Putting an object in the finder scope helps you bring the object in the field of view very nicely or at least very close enough. Firstly i would align the finder scope to your eye piece. You can do this during the day time by pointing to a far object (like the top of the house or an antenna) which will be close enough and you can then fine tune it under the stars at night.

Secondly what i would do if i were you is download an App (Sky Portal by Celestron or Sky Safari free version) and use that to help you find your target placement in the sky. Living in light polluted skies some times does has it's benefits because you only get to see the bright objects (planets and stars) rather than getting confused in the sea of stars from a Bortle 2 skies. So use the app which will help you find the location of the object . 

Hope this helps.

[English111]

Thank you what ep would you recommend that’s not going to break the bank lol

[Demonperformer]

Hi, and welcome to SGL.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if this is the scope you have then a 25mm ep will be giving a 50.8x magnification and with an 18.3" disc, Saturn should be appearing about half the size of the full moon with the naked eye (~15'). That should be more than enough to see a disc! If this is the case, the only solution would be that you are not actually looking at Saturn, and sorting out your finder-alignment (as above) is the way forward.

[Stu]

33 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Hi, and welcome to SGL.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if this is the scope you have then a 25mm ep will be giving a 50.8x magnification and with an 18.3" disc, Saturn should be appearing about half the size of the full moon with the naked eye (~15'). That should be more than enough to see a disc! If this is the case, the only solution would be that you are not actually looking at Saturn, and sorting out your finder-alignment (as above) is the way forward.

I agree with this, at x50 you will be able to the rings so you must not be looking at Saturn. Get you finder aligned first and then go from there.

You will definitely need higher power eyepieces to see it well though, I would expect 9mm, 8mm or 7mm eyepieces could all be useful, giving x141, x159 and x181 magnification. You don't need all three at this stage, but having moderate and higher powers helps when seeing conditions vary.

What budget do you have and what do you have access to out there?

[Geoff Lister]

Hello, and welcome to SGL.

Good advice, above, about checking the alignment of the finder.

A X2 Barlow lens will turn your 25mm & 10mm eyepieces into 12.5mm and 5mm. I use my 32mm Plossl as my initial eyepiece for finding the object, and then increasing the magnification until the contrast starts to suffer, this is particularly important with the 3 planets close to the horizon. The Celestron 24-8mm zoom is good value and, with the X2 Barlow, would give you a range of 24mm to 4mm. One big advantage of the zoom is that you can increase the magnification until you hit the magnification / contrast sweet spot for the viewing conditions. At the 5/4mm end, you are going to be doing a lot of nudging to keep the object in the field of view.

If Demonperformer has identified your 'scope, you will have the option of 2" eyepieces. For the time being, I would suggest keeping to the 1.25" ranges, but in the future, you may want to get something like my 55mm Plossl for wide-angle views (in my case, very rarely used, as the 32mm 1.25" is fine on most occasions).

Geoff

[English111]

Thank you all I do have a 9mm but thought I should start with the 25 I also have a 5x  Barlow lens and a 2x so think I need to play more I will try to set up the finder alignment today and hopefully see a planet tonight again thank you 

[rwilkey]

Hi there, the 5x Barlow will be too much magnification and all you will get is a fuzzy blur, it is for photography use not visual.  The 2x Barlow should be most useful though.

[English111]

1 hour ago, rwilkey said:

Hi there, the 5x Barlow will be too much magnification and all you will get is a fuzzy blur, it is for photography use not visual.  The 2x Barlow should be most useful though.

Thank you I have a camera device thing but that’s along way off being used I want to see a planet first.i have now got the apps mentioned earlier so hope they help 

[English111]

Hello I know you have seen lots but tonight I saw Jupiter with 4 moons for the first time ,I’m very happy 

i think I need a better finder scope (any advice welcome)

and I think I need to look into good eyepieces again any recommendations 

thank you 

ps the apps are a great help thanks

[cloudsweeper]

I have the same 'scope - like it a lot!  I replaced the finder that came with it with a Rigel reflex finder and right-angle correct image (RACI) finderscope.

As others have said, whatever finder you use must be lined up first.  Also, for locating a target, you need to use a long focal length EP - I start with a 36 or a 42mm.  You can then increase the mag, and track the object with the RACI.

Have fun!

Doug.

[Demonperformer]

7 hours ago, English111 said:

Hello I know you have seen lots but tonight I saw Jupiter with 4 moons for the first time ,I’m very happy

Congratulations. Celebrating every step forward and every new "first" is the way to go with this game.

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 16/07/2018 at 10:56, English111 said:

Thank you all I do have a 9mm but thought I should start with the 25 I also have a 5x  Barlow lens and a 2x so think I need to play more I will try to set up the finder alignment today and hopefully see a planet tonight again thank you 

5x barlows are typically used for imaging. If you plan to do imaging at some stage in the future, keep it. If not, sell it. Its a good habit to get into asap.............using a larger EP (say 32mm) to scan the sky, and then use something like 15mm to "zoom" in. You'll need to refocus. Then after that, a 7,8,9mm EP is pretty ideal for observing planets. 

Every time you change the EP, you will need to refocus the scope.

[Subdeo]

20 hours ago, English111 said:

 

i think I need a better finder scope (any advice welcome)

 

I recommend a red dot finder. Mine is pretty cheap, but I find it reliable and easy to use. It stays aligned, but is easy to correct when needed. Good luck!

[LukeSkywatcher]

5 minutes ago, Subdeo said:

I recommend a red dot finder. Mine is pretty cheap, but I find it reliable and easy to use. It stays aligned, but is easy to correct when needed. Good luck!

I dont use a finderscope or RDF apart from when i align my 8se, but a simple RDF is useful and intuitive. You should be able to pick one up 2nd hand on ABS for less than a tenner.

*ABS=Astro Buy and Sell*