Venus Trouble

[OrionKnights]

Just got a AstroMaster 114eq. Been messing around with it just to get used to everything, really just been looking at the moon. Last night I tried looking at Venus, locked on to it and put a Celestron 20mm erecting eyepiece in and basically saw and bright ball. I went to the 10mm samething but when trying to zoom in I start seeing the bright ball but with the cross thats in the front part of the telescope obscuring the still blury picture. And samething happened with Plossl 6.3mm. I have to be missing something. I am a complete noob so please don't beat me to a pulp .

[lunator]

Hi OK

Don't worry about Venus looking like a bright blob. That is what it looks like

The cross sounds like you can see the secondary supports in the scope.

Take you time in focusing and this should deal with the problem.

Cheers

Ian

[insomnia]

sounds like it was out of focus, getting a sharp focus is a fine art

[OrionKnights]

Thanks for the fast replies. I could get it in focus, I guess I was just expecting to be able to zoom in alittle more. Is there anyway to cut down on the brightness so I maybe could see the color of the Venus? And if I could I would like to throw this question in: Do you guys think, with the equipment I have, be able to see Mars. And by see, I mean atleast be able to view the redder and darker areas as well as the polar caps?

[HawkEyes]

well i only know that venus is very far away from us at this time of year and u may notice `shards` of light eminating from the sphere. to fix this you will either need to buy a filter; you would need to look into which one over the internet or just wait until venus is closer to the earth later on in the year.

[RichieP]

A moon filter will help a lot with Venus, cutting down on the glare.

You won't see any surface detail on venus, there is not much to see. What yuu will see though is that it has phases, just like the moon.

Regards

Richard

[orionhunter]

doubt you will see much on mars with a 114mm, esp right now.

i cant see much at all even with a SW 150p dob.

afaik,

youll have to wait until 2018 for mars to get a lot closer to earth again.

[Capricorn]

Venus has a dense atmosphere, you don't really see the surface. It is too small to have atmospheric features like Jupiter. So just a small bright featureless disk. Sorry.

[SirFoo]

Hi,

I'm new to this as well and also have a 114mm reflector. I have been looking at Venus, Mars and Saturn at the moment. Like yourself Venus has been slighty disappointing for me too. It is basically a bright blurry ball with no details whatsoever. I agree totally with Insomnia that focusing is an art form. One unfortunately that I don't have ....yet! Mars was bigger about 2 months ago and is now geting smaler all the time. Like Venus you don't see much more on your scope than a bigger reddish blog. I certainly have not been able to make out any detail and have used a 4 mm EP. I suggest that you turn your attention to Saturn which is by far the most intersting planet that I have viewed on my scope so far. I'm waiting for Jupiter to come back in he next few months.

We just need to keep trying and we will no doubt get better as we get more experienced. Good luck.

DD

[OrionKnights]

Hi,

We just need to keep trying and we will no doubt get better as we get more experienced. Good luck.

Your right about that. This is a learning all the time type of hobby, which I love. Tonight I'm going to try and find Saturn, can't wait. Thanks for all the info guys.