A little help observing Jupiter

[Aryan]

Hey everyone.

 

I'm new to this forum as well as to astronomy. I have the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ. I have been trying to observe Jupiter for some time now. Rarely does it appear due to the cloud cover but when it does, I take the chance. But every time i observe Jupiter, it always ends up looking like a huge bright dot in the sky. I cannot make out any details due to its brightness. I can make out its four moon's with ease, but I cannot make out  any cloud belts or features of thee planet itself. I have bought myself the Celestron Astromaster accessory kit, which includes a 15 mm kellner, 6 mm plossl as well as a 2x barlow lens. I also have my 20 mm and 10 mm eyepieces that i received with the telescope itself. I tried using a moon filter, but I'm still not able to make out any details. I feel I am going wrong somewhere as I have seen many people's posts on this forum and other places as well, and they have said it is easy to make out Jupiter's belts on the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ even with the 10 mm eyepiece. I Iive in Bangalore, India, where there is some light pollution, but not much.

 

What am I doing wrong and what should I do to enhance my views of the planet? 

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Aryan, and welcome to SGL.

Sounds to me like a focus issue. I would start with your longest eyepiece (20mm from your list) which will give you the maximum depth of field. As focus gets nearer, the huge bright dot should get smaller until focus is achieved. If it starts getting bigger after getting smaller, then you have passed the point of focus and, if you have seen no details by then, it must be something else. But a 130 is definitely capable of seeing detail on Jupy's surface.

Enjoy the journey.

[laudropb]

With your 6 mm ep you will get a magnification of about 108x. When in focus at this magnification Jupiter’s disc will be quite small. If you see it as a huge dot then it is not in focus. Although the in focus disc is small you will see cloud details, at least the equatorial belts.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Aryan and welcome to SGL.  

As per @laudropb. Below is a couple of screenshots from Resources--> Astronomy Tools--> Field of View Calculator at the top of the page. 

[Aryan]

Hey everyone,

 

Thanks for all the information that all of you have provided me with. The astronomy calculator helped me to actually know what size of the planet I should expect from the eyepiece. But I still have one issue, even after focusing the object into place, it appears too bright to even try and notice anything. The brightness doesn't allow me to notice any surface detail. What can I do to reduce the brightness in order to see some surface detail?

 

Thanks.

[Kn4fty]

You have a couple options. The biggest one is just spend time at the eye piece. The longer you look, the more detail you'll see. Its all about training your eyes. Another option is filters. Different filters can make different features more apparent. I find 82a light blue fairly good. Filters will help cut the brightness. Not everyone uses filters. For some folks it enhances detail. For others it doesn't make a difference. Hope this helps. Mostly its just spending time observing. The longer you look, the more you'll see.

Rob

[RT65CB-SWL]

Following on from @Kn4fty, you could also try a varible polarising filter. I use this type---> 

[Demonperformer]

45 minutes ago, Kn4fty said:

The biggest one is just spend time at the eye piece. The longer you look, the more detail you'll see. Its all about training your eyes.

Totally agree with this. Learning to 'see' instead of just 'look at' is one of the best skills you can develop.

[Pete Presland]

1 hour ago, Demonperformer said:

Totally agree with this. Learning to 'see' instead of just 'look at' is one of the best skills you can develop.

Totally agree, Its called observing for a reason. I have spent over hour on some object in the winter, especially as the seeing "come and goes" during a session.

[starhopper13]

Hello, Aryan and welcome to the forum.

I'm new to astronomy as well and coincidentally we have the same instruments (minus the kit). I'm a neighbour of yours from Bangladesh, and despite all the light pollution (bortle 6), the equatorial belts are easily visible through my telescope with both of the eyepieces. When the conditions are good I can even spot the Great Red Spot. 

It may be that your place is more light polluted than mine, but I'm not sure if it can obscure obvious details like the belts. Though I noticed that when it's hazy the belts seem less obvious and the planet just looks like a bright disk. You said that It's been cloudy, so perhaps you should wait till it becomes clear and hopefully less windy. 

Another suggestion will be to take a chair with you so you can sit down comfortably and look through the eyepiece for a long time. 

Clear skies and best of luck with the hurricane. 

[Marvin Jenkins]

That last line says it all, and I am depressed with a couple of weeks of windy cloudy weather. Stay safe, I hope all will be well.

Marv

[Aryan]

Hey everyone,

 

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me here on this forum. I'm sure it will be very helpful. I do not have access to my telescope right now, so once I do I will definitely make sure  to use all the tips you guys have given me. I will come back to you guys here once I finally have the chance to observe Jupiter again. Again, thank you so much for all the help you guys have given me.

 

Clear skies to everyone!

Edited June 13, 2019 by Aryan

[MarsG76]

As mentioned above that practice in observing will allow you to learn to pick out detail, but also ND and polarizing filters do help... I also find that a Contrast booster and neodymium filters stacked help a lot.... the other things you need to do is check collimation. The only thing you can't control is the weather.. observing during high pressure and still wind speeds is the best condition to have a chance of seeing fine detail.