Skywatcher heritage 100

[Mark68]

Hi, 

Due to having more time on my hands since the lockdown ive become interested in astronomy again. 

My children bought me the sky watcher heritage 100 for father's day. 

Ive played with it a couple of times. 

It came with a Barlow x2, 25mm and 10mm eye pieces. 

I tried looking st Jupiter last night and couldn't see anything other than a dot, very similar to when I was looking at Arcturus.

Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to practice on the focus. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Mark68

[MarkAR]

Nothing wrong there, the Heritage is only 400mm focal length so even with the 10mm and 2x Barlow, Jupiter will look not much more than a dot.

This will give you an idea.

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

[Mark68]

That's a fantastic tool. Thank you. 

So I need to get some more eye pieces. 😀

[MarkAR]

Possibly, there will be a limit on the magnification you can feasibly achieve with your scope.

[John]

Planets are never going to "fill the field" with a scope no matter what magnifications are used.

I produced this Powerpoint presentation a while back for my astro society which attempted to show what things actually look like through a scope:

telescopeviews.pptx

What you actually see with a scope will vary of course and the darkness of the skies will make a difference on the deep sky object, but it gives some idea I hope.

 

[Ricochet]

4 hours ago, Mark68 said:

I tried looking st Jupiter last night and couldn't see anything other than a dot, very similar to when I was looking at Arcturus.

Jupiter should appear as a small disk, with the four major moons in roughly a straight line either side of it. Seeing cloud band detail on Jupiter will require high magnification and may be limited by either your scope or eyepieces and the atmospheric conditions, as well as requiring correct focus. Your 10mm eyepiece is probably the weak point in the provided accessories, perhaps the barlow too depending on what is supplied with the Heritage 100p.

[Louis D]

Even in 15x binoculars, I can usually tell that Jupiter is a disk with the Galilean moons as pinpoints on a line on either side of it.  Are you sure you were looking at Jupiter?

[Mark68]

Yeah positive it was jupiter, it might have been me trying to bring it in too close.

The website some previous showed me is great for understanding what I can see and with different eye pieces.

As to what type of eye piece i have got, i wouldn't imagine it being the best for what the heritage 100 costs.

I need to understand how the focusing works now I know what to expect to see, then I will invest in better eye pieces.

I can only get 80x at the moment so might get a 6mm and increase it to 133x

[bingevader]

16 hours ago, Mark68 said:

So I need to get some more eye pieces. 😀

Or a 5mm EP and your 2x barlow would give you a magnification of 160x, which should definitely show you some detail.

[Mark68]

Just now, bingevader said:

Or a 5mm EP and your 2x barlow would give you a magnification of 160x, which should definitely show you some detail.

Thanks. I have had a quick look around and thought they went from 6mm to 4mm. I thought 4mm would be too strong for my scope, hence going for the 6km.

[bingevader]

A 4mm and the barlow would be at the theoretical limit of the 'scope.

Added to which 200x is pushing it in the UK (if you are here!).

But there are 5s around, the BST Starguider for one!

Or the Celestron X-Cel LX.

Edited June 24, 2020 by bingevader

[John]

50x will show Jupiters disk, it's main cloud belts and the 4 Galilean moons. Actually even 10x shows that it's not a star and that it has moons.

 

 

[Ricochet]

1 hour ago, Mark68 said:

I need to understand how the focusing works

Turn the focuser knobs so that the object you are observing becomes smaller. When the object is at its smallest, you are in focus. You cannot use the focuser to enlarge the image. 

[Nerf_Caching]

Get the Explore Scientific 52-degree 3mm eyepiece if you can. I have the Orion equivalent of the Heritage 100 and it works a charm at 133x magnification while providing adequate eye relief for comfortable viewing. I've had people gasp at the view of the close-up lunar surface using that scope and eyepiece.

[Mark68]

5 hours ago, Nerf_Caching said:

Get the Explore Scientific 52-degree 3mm eyepiece if you can. I have the Orion equivalent of the Heritage 100 and it works a charm at 133x magnification while providing adequate eye relief for comfortable viewing. I've had people gasp at the view of the close-up lunar surface using that scope and eyepiece.

Ok, thanks for the advice.

I'll search for that one.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Mark68