magnification required for saturn?

[Wurzil]

Hi all,

Just a quick question. What mag do i need so i can see saturn and its rings. I had a go the other night and could only see a bright dot that seemed slightly out of focus- I was using my OMNI XLT 120 and a 6.3mm EP (albeit a rather poor tasco kelner) which gives about 150x. Using the same EP I could see Mars nicely (with faint white polar reqion and hint of a dark smudge near the equator).

any ideas?

ta

Warren

[riklaunim]

Even with small magnification you will see the ring (very thin - so lacking structure details).

[moocher]

Saturn takes magnification really well anything around 250-300x (if your scope can cope with that sort of magnification of course). I had it at 400x one evening in my old C8, it looked stunning!!!!! This is one reason that SCTs are the prefered weapon of choice for planetary gurus......long focal length = big images!!!!

Alan:)

[brianb]

Saturn's globe is a bit bigger than Mars is at the moment. The rings are at the moment presented at a shallow angle (and getting shallower until about June) but you should see them as a brightish line stuck through the ball with a fairly low power, x50 should be enough. x150 is probably a good magnification to use with a 5" scope but you will need to wait until the planet is reasonably high before you well get a good view with such a high power.

[Wurzil]

hmmm if the globe is bigger than mars then I must have been looking at a star and not saturn. what a dumbass I am.

thanks guys.

Ill try harder

Warren

[dweller25]

hmmm if the globe is bigger than mars then I must have been looking at a star and not saturn. what a dumbass I am.

thanks guys.

Ill try harder

Warren

Yes ...

You were looking at a star, you will see Saturn and it's rings easily at x150.