Newcomer, help regarding planets.

[maximR]

Hello there. I am a 14 year old boy who is interested in astronomy. I just purchased a telescope, Skywatcher 70mm Refractor. I have a 25mm, 10mm and a 2x Barlow eyepiece. I used the 25mm to locate planets, stars or anything in the night sky.

What I want to ask is,

Why are can't I zoom in any further at the stars ? I can see tons of faint stars which are now visible through a telescope. Many stars, but they look tiny, just like pin-points. Is this supposed to happen ?

Besides that, I have trouble locating planets. How do I differentiate a planet from a star ?

When I do locate it, which eyepiece should I use ?

Thank you for reading and I hope you can help me solve the problem.

[GazOC]

Hi,

You can't zoom in to stars to make them bigger, they will always just be pinpoints. Planets will show and disc and detail when you zoom in though.

When you find a planet (theres only Saturn worth looking at at the moment), find it with the 25mm, zoom with the 10mm and then then try the 10mm and the barlow together.

Gaz

[John]

Hi there, welcome to SGL.

Stars never appear as more than pinpoints, even with powerful telescopes so don't worry, there is nothing wrong with your scope. With a scope you can see more of the fainter stars and resolve clusters of stars, but never more than points of light still.

Try downloading the freeware software "Stellarium". This is easy to use and will show you what is in the sky (including planets) at a given time and location. At the moment Mars and Saturn are well placed to observe although Mars is receding now and rather small - a small pink dot in your scope probably - but not a star. You will see Saturns rings even at low power (the 25mm eyepiece). That eyepiece is good for locating things then you can use the 10mm and then the barlow lens (with an eyepiece of course !) to give you more power on planets, the moon and double stars.

Ooops - Gaz and I posted at the same time !

[GazOC]

Ooops - Gaz and I posted at the same time !

At least we agree!!

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome. Star will always look small not matter how much magnification you throw at them, they are too far away and will always look like small dots.

If you haven't already done so download Stellarium which is a free program and will help you locate the planets that in view at the moment (Venus and Mercury just after sunset and then Mars and Saturn when it gets darker). Start by using the 25mm eyepiece to centre the planet in your field of view then switch to the 10mm to get a closer view. if the atmospheric condtions permit it, use the 2x barlow with the 10mm eyepiece.

You can sometimes tell planets from stars as stars twinkle and planets do not.

Peter

[Chris H]

Can't add much to what the others have said. Stelarium will help you then get out under the night sky and learn the constellations, once identified they are in the sky for a number of months so you can become familiar with them and once you identify the planets you will easily spot them in future. Try and find Mars and Saturn easily visible right now, first with just your eyes then try through the scope. Good luck.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Venus is visible in the west just after sunset (8pm-9pm). It is the only "star" in the sky at that time and is really big and bright. If you are lucky you may also see the planet Mercury just to the right of it over the next few evenings. I think then that Mercury will be to the left of Venus.

The easiest way to tell if you are looking at a planet is to look and see if the light from it "shimmers" or not. If the light does NOT shimmer then it is a planet. The light from stars "shimmers" because of atmospheric conditions.

P.S.~~~welcome to SGL.

[maximR]

Thank you so much for your help. I've never seen a community so helpful in providing guides, tips and tricks for a beginner. Today marks the 3rd day of me owning the scope, so it's still new to me. On the 1st day I couldn't see a thing, even terrestrial objects because I was using the 10mm eyepiece.

2nd day, I could see many, many stars, but I couldn't locate the planets/galaxy.

Any recommendations on which galaxy/cluster/nebulae I should see, which is easy for me to locate ?

[AWR]

I'd recommend Turn Left at Orion. It's a book with 100 things to see in a small scope. It has really good diagrams to help you find things.

Andrew

[brantuk]

Hi Max and welcome to the group

In order to find things in the sky you need to learn a few basic things. First find a couple of constellations - I suggest the Plough (like a big pan shape) and casseopiae (like a "W" shape). Use these two to locate the Pole Star in the north (they point to it).

Everything revolves around the pole star and you will notice that things come up in the East and set in the West - just like the sun. Stellarium mentioned above will illustrate this well. Then add one or two more constellations to your list (e.g. Orion, Gemini, etc). The one's I mention are easy to see on a clear night at the moment.

So when you see a planet in Stellarium - make a note of the nearest constellation then you can go outside and know roughly where it is in the sky. Eg Saturn is following Leo right now.

Other planets follow the same imaginary line in the sky called the "ecliptic". Everything else is near a constellation somewhere. To "zoom in" you basically change the eye piece. The lower the eye piece number, the higher the magnification. So 10mm is stronger than 25mm and a Barlow doubles the magnification. With the barlow you effectivley have 4 eyepieces (25mm, 12.5mm 10mm and 5mm).

Hope that helps and all the best with your new hobby

[Demonperformer]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

The only thing I will add to what has already been said is don't make the mistake of thinking more magnification is necessarily better. A small image will be brighter and can show more detail.

If this illustration helps: Imagine reading a newspaper as it is getting dark. As the light goes, you will not be able to read the small print, only the headlines will be readable. Put the light on (make the image brighter) and the print which is much smaller now becomes legible.

[maximR]

Thank you so much guys for your help!

I just saw Saturn with my own eyes, it was magical !!! I almost fell off my chair when I spotted it, a tint of yellow, very very bright with the rings on it !

It's hard to see it when I insert the 10 mm eyepiece, very narrow and when I try to focus it, it will be out of range. Well, more luck next time.