Jupiter

[Saxony]

I just wondered what you would expect Jupiter to look like though a 3-4 inch refractor? I have an astromaster 90.

I had my first night viewing with it tonight and to be honest I was expecting a little bit more, my brother also thought we should see more than we could. We saw Jupiter and 3 of it's moons, but we could see that through my bins, albeit smaller, I was just expecting to see at least some colour and it's bands maybe, but it was just a white disc.

My brother said it might be because it is low down in the sky, and if it was higher we might be able to see more with the scope I have.

I would just like to know if Jupiter was higher would I see more detail, or is my scope just not good enough wherever it is in the sky?

We found the andromida galaxy too but that didn't look much different to looking through my binoculars either

Sax

[GazOC]

Jupiters just too low at the moment, I've only had about half a dozen nights over the last couple of years where I've had decent views in any of my scopes. Andromeda is just a disapointing object in most small/ medium sized scopes TBH, it just looks like a big oval fuzzy patch.

[mik]

Saxony have a play with this it is good fun.

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

[argonaut]

Hi Sax,

I have a 85mm scope and had a quick look earlier on in the night. It's just too low at the moment. My light pollution is also bad to the south. When Jupiter is higher you will see more. Don't be put off.

I have seen 3 clear bands with my binoculars so your scope will show you more,given time.

Argonaut.

[PH-R]

Thxs for the link! However I am a bit confused as the program shows jupitar as a dot for my set up(evostar 100ED) but I have seen huge pictures using the 80mm scope.

Kind Regards,

Paul

NB Can you really blow images up that much?

[Saxony]

Thanks everyone, looks like I'll just have to wait for it to be higher then.

I agree about the link, it looks like a good site, thanks, but either I was doing something wrong or umm I dunno. It just showed it as a dot but it was alot bigger than that when I looked, even through my binoculars it was bigger :?

Sax

[Neon]

Seeing is pretty bad at the moment for Jupiter. I'm sure some of the guys here will agree that they get different results with different scopes on the same target, often with the smaller instrument out-performing the larger one. It happens.

Also comparing binocular images with telescope images can be hard to do. Using both eyes can often give the impression of a bigger, clearer image when it really isn't.

HTH

Mark

[Saxony]

I think my last post might be a bit confusing, when I was saying it was bigger through my binoculars I meant compared to the dot on the linked site, not my scope.

It was definatly a lot better viewing it through my scope than my bins.

[Vega]

Just out of interest Sax, what eyepeice were you viewing it with?

Matt

[Saxony]

20mm, I tried the 10 but although it looked bigger it was alot harder to focus. The image looked sharper with the 20. It was my first time using a scope so it's all new to me.

Sax

[Vega]

Yeah, I would say that you do need higher magnification (lower eyepeice in mm) to see the cloud bands and reduce the brightness and see more detail. The problem is, as you have found out, the more magnification you use, the more the image will deteriorate depending on the power of your scope. However your not even reaching your maximum power with those eyepeices so it must simply be the fact that Jupiter os so low (or it was a particularly messy sky that night).

As yours is a 90mm scope, the maximum practical magnification you can go to is 180x . You calculate your magnification by dividing the focal length of your scope (I believe this is 1000mm for your scope) by the eyepeice size.

So 1000 divided by 20mm eyepiece gives you 50x magnification

and 1000 divided by 10mm eyepiece gives you 100x magnification

Hope that helps

Matt

[themos]

Please keep observing Jupiter when you can, you'll begin to notice that some days are much better than others. Planets generally require magnification (also called "power" sometimes) of around 200.

[Astro_Baby]

Its so low at the moment that views are VERY variable. My tiny 130PM could resolve it and four moons easily and show some cloud banding BUT the view was always very wobbly from near where I live. At Salisbury it was still low but the air was relatively clear. At around x66 mag it showed up well enough and with patience I could make out the two equatorial cloud belts which is about the best you can hope for. Even at Salisbury with good skies pushing the mag much beyond a 100 produced a very wobbly haze ridden view.

Theres also a trick to watching objects like Jupiter which is you need to observe - by that I mean you need to be looking at it for a few minutes at least each time. As the haze shifts around you will see cloud details very often but its very transient. To date I have only ever seen the two main equatorial cloud bands and the odd festoon ( cloud swirls at the edge of the belts ). You just have tp patiently watch and wait really. Observing is an art as much as its a science I have found.

Faint fuzzies are always - well faint really. The best views I have had of the fuzzies was at Salisbury with my own 8" scope and Astronuts 12" Dob. I have been desperately trying ever since to get views as good

[Brandon]

even if u cant see much detail, it is still amazing to know that u are looking at another planet. just remember that galileo used only a 1-inch telescope. also, I noticed that the more times I observe jupiter, the more detail I can see (compared to when I first started). I was told that you need to "train" your eye. This was further confirmed with my dad. at first, jupiter just looked like another star to him through the telescope (granted he has bad eyes) but after a couple more tries he could see lots of detail, especially after I showed him a image of jupiter I think voyager took.