Jupiter Saturn Struggling...

[wesdon1]

Hi all. Just wondering, is anyone else struggling to get good resolution/detail with Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in recent days ? I have a 8 inch Newt. and i am really struggling to resolve the aforementioned planets at the moment ? I was just wondering is anyone else having the same issues ? Last year i had amazing views of Planets with my 5.1 inch Newt. Reflector, but that was around middle to late in year when they were much higher up in sky. So i'm thinking is it just simply atmospheric blurring due to them being really low near horizon, or is there something else going on ? Like my 'scope being way out of collimation ? or something else i haven't thought of ? or is it just plain and simple bad seeing ? If it is the latter, will others please confirm they too are having very bad seeing with Planets at the moment please ? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Wes, Liverpool, UK.

[dweller25]

When the planets are low you are viewing through much more atmosphere to see them hence the poor views.

Altitude wins.

Well done for getting up though 👍

[Ciaran Meier]

If there're all regularly bad my first suspicion would be collimation.  Get onto a close double and see how you do.   Also, give the scope plenty of time to cool down.  Get it set-up at least a few hours before the session starts, that can really make a big difference in image quality.  Does your aspect cause you to observe over the top of neighbouring rooftops ?   They'll be cooling down and introducing quite a bit of thermal agitation into your immediate environment.  (Even on cold days) .

Ciaran. 

[Stu]

I’ve moved this to Observing - Planetary.
 

My thoughts are that, although we have had lovely clear skies in the last couple of weeks, the seeing has generally been fairly poor unfortunately. I’m fairly sure that, combined with the low altitude of the planets is what is causing your issue.

It’s always worth making sure everything else is optimum ie cooling, collimation and avoiding observing over thermal inducing houses etc, but I suspect the basic problem is the seeing. Check the Jetstream forecast to to see when it is not overhead as that really affects the seeing.

At 5.30am, Jupiter is currently only 10 degrees up, it transits at over 17 degrees but that is not until 7.52am currently. Near opposition it actually seems to transit at a slightly lower altitude but obviously the timing is better and it will be that bit larger.

[Supernova74]

Good evening to you yes planets can be differcult as the other post states when low on the meridian your not only dealing with more light pollution depending on your location also  atmospheric turbulence I viewed mars around 18 mths ago now and wounded what the fuss was all about  and was with an celestron CPC 9.25 however the good news is in the next few years thay will be higher in the sky be patient as you can go out one night and be disappointed then be amazed the next also something else considering if you got an shorter focal length scope thay don,t perform quite so well as an longer focal length scope that’s why some of thease refractors have F12,F15 and so on ie an F4.5 reflector will not perform as well as mainly a fast system and mainly for the moon and deep sky.And lastly there is a device worth considering by ZWO called an atmospheric dispersion correcter and I’ve heard through the grape vine that work very well in visual and imaging observations 

[Timebandit]

22 hours ago, Supernova74 said:

also something else considering if you got an shorter focal length scope thay don,t perform quite so well as an longer focal length scope that’s why some of thease refractors have F12,F15 and so on ie an F4.5 reflector will not perform as well as mainly a fast system and mainly for the moon and deep sky.

 

The focal length does not mean that longer focal ratio scopes necessary are better. The main factor is the quality of the mirror/optics. You can have a long focal length refractor with poor optics, but a sorter focal length reflector with a high quality mirror. The OOuk scope I have is considered fast at around f/4.5 but has a high quality 1/10 mirror. The OOuk is great for planetary as well as Luna , DSO. The quality of the optics/mirror are very important in the quality of the views gained and not just focal ratio

Going back to the Op post. Check collimation of your scope may be beneficial and make sure you have proper cool down of your mirror. But the position of the planets can make a huge difference in views, because all the extra atmosphere you may need to cut through. And the transparency of the Sky's can also have a huge difference. 

Hope this helps

 

 

 

[JonCarleton]

I got this shot by getting up at dark-thirty, just before the sunrise.  I'm not posting my Saturn, as I couldn't get a clear focus.  We've had a "smutz" layer at high altitudes that "looks" like clear sky until you try to focus through it.  10" SkyWatcher Dob.

Edited April 16, 2020 by JonCarleton

[wesdon1]

So sorry for such late reply guys! Thanks for all the advice and comments. Really grateful! I managed to see Jupiter, Saturn in much greater detail a few nights later, after collimating my 'scope! Goes to show sometimes it's the basics that we fall short on! Wes, Liverpool, UK.