New to sky watching

[Johnygail]

Just got myself a celestron 114eq powerseeker and wow the moon veiws are mind blowing. However trying to get a good view of venus.. Not so easy. I have read lots of reasons why. But my question is, will I get half decent veiws of Jupiter and saturn. I believe they are visible tonight. I took these pictures using my Huawei p30 pro and eyepiece 15. 

[Ruud]

Nice pictures.

[Johnygail]

My First attempt, think I will stop now. 😂

[Trikeflyer]

Welcome to the hobby.  Great start on the moon.  Views of planets are greatly influenced by how high in the sky they are.  In the UK at the moment, Jupiter and Saturn are pretty low down meaning you have a lot of atmosphere to look through and this generally spoils the levels of detail you can see.  They are going to be low for a few years here so, yes you will be able to see them but perhaps not in great detail.  The scope you have should perform well in the 100x mag range - using the 10mm supplied eyepiece and this should allow you to see the gas giant planets but as I say due to their position, you may not get stunning views like you have of the moon.  That said, best way to find out is to have a look.

Good luck and enjoy.

Steve 

[Phillips6549]

Hi Johnygail, and welcome to SGL

Jupiter and Saturn are both visible in the early morning at the moment - you'll need to be looking at around 4am to see them at their best.  Even then they are very low in the sky so unless you have an unobstructed view below 12 degrees from the horizon, you'll not see them.

You won't see Jupiter in the evening until August.

Any views of the planets will be small.  Don't expect to see the wonderful detail you see on the internet!  Nevertheless, seeing the planets with your own eyes is always worthwhile - and the first sighting of Saturn will be a Wow! moment.

Checkout the thread below to get an idea what you're likely to actually see through your scope.

Here are a couple of examples of what I could see last summer with a similar scope taken on my Samsung phone.

Clear skies

Mark

 

[Ruud]

Johnygail, do you already have a copy of stellarium?

get it from www.Stellarium.org

"Stellarium is a planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. It's easy to use, and free."

It's good for getting to know the sky and planning your observations. If you use Windows you'll find a manual after installation in the folder C:\Program Files\Stellarium\guide

 

[Johnygail]

Hi Ruud, 

 

No i havent but I will head over and take a look later today, thanks for the advice and info.

[Johnygail]

Thanks Guys for Help and Information..👍

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Hi Johnny, yes 114mm reflector will provide you with half decent views of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars later in the year.

You probably need to invest in a better eyepiece or two. The 114eq is capable of over 200x magnification, however that's dependent on several factors you have little or no control over, for instance light pollution and atmospheric conditions on a given day.

A 6mm eyepiece will provide 150x. That should give stable views of Saturn with rings and the cloud bands on Jupiter.

 

 

 

[Neil H]

Hi and a warm welcome I also started with the 114 powerseeker but mine had been used and abused ment to have been new ( long story) 

If you get stellarium on your phone as well as your  pc , phone is not free but it's well worth £7.50 your be able to hold your phone up to the sky and it will tell you what your looking at which helps you learn , and has loads of info on the object your looking at 

Neil

[Phillips6549]

There is a free version of Stellarium for Android phones at least.