No colour on Jupiter :(

[joey7415963]

Hi all, I have tried focussing my scope at jupiter a couple of times and mars (when it was out at the beginning of the year).

Each time, all I seem to get is a very nice bright disc in my eyepiece. I have never seen any colour on Jupiter. Should I be able to see colour with my scope? I know I shouldn't expect much but all I literally see is a white disc, no faint markings, nothing!

The equipment that I am using is:

Celestron Astromaster 130EQ with 10mm, on 2x Barlow

Thanks in advance

[Peter Drew]

Hello Joey. Jupiter is not particularly colourfull at present, the colours you may have seen in magazines are usually obtained with larger scopes or by photographic means. However, you should easily be able to see some detail at the magnifications you mention, make sure that Jupiter is high enough, i.e. after about 10.00, that your scope has had time to cool down and finally that your optics are well collimated. Good luck.

[Moonshane]

Couple of questions, is it OK on the moon, i.e. do you get a sharp detailed image?

Is the Barlow the one that came with the scope?

If the answer is yes and yes then I suspect the Barlow is a poor quality unit and you'd benefit from a replacement eg the 2x Tal - Tal 2x and 3x Barlows

You might also benefit from a better 10mm too. Your scope should be OK with what is effectively a 5mm eyepiece. It could be collimation too and check this is aligned before you spend any money - it could have the effect you describe.

If you are not getting a sharp image of the moon, then try hand holding the eyepiece out of the focuser a little. Does this help? If so an extension might be required.

If you need help with any of these things then just ask.

[Moonshane]

Oh yeah - as Peter says, cooling is essential I'd say at least half an hour to an hour if you can after moving from house to garden.

[joey7415963]

Hi Peter, thanks for your reply.

I will make sure it has cooled down properly tonight but I would have thought even with a warm scope you should be able to see some detail. All I see is a bright white disc and a moon. Similarly with saturn all I saw was a bright white disc and a ring (well focussed) around the planet, but no colour!

[Moonshane]

a warm scope really gives an awful image. a cool scope badly collimated is not much better. the good news is that your problem may be one that's fixed cheaply/free

[joey7415963]

Thanks moonshane for your suggestions, I will try that as soon as I can get out there, probably tomorrow now. The Barlow isn't a particularly exspensive one but it didn't come with the scope (however the 10mm did). The moon does focus well without the Barlow but not crystal clear with it.

[John]

Hi Peter, thanks for your reply.

I will make sure it has cooled down properly tonight but I would have thought even with a warm scope you should be able to see some detail. All I see is a bright white disc and a moon. Similarly with saturn all I saw was a bright white disc and a ring (well focussed) around the planet, but no colour!

How long did you observe Jupiter for ?. The planetary details don't always jump out at you - you need to allow time for your eye to adjust to the brightness of the planet then gradually you should be able to make out some details - eg: the main equatorial belt on the planet, as your eyes get practiced you might see some more, finer belts but those will come and go as the seeing conditions change (sometimes you only see the finer details for a second or so).

I find it can take an hour or more for my eye to start picking out the finer details on the planet. Your scope will also cool further as time progresses - a warm scope will show very little in the way of details - possibly just a blank disk.

[Moonshane]

I suspect the Barlow is the problem optically. Make sure your scope is cool and if you can, check the collimation (a simple film canister with a 2mm approx hole in the centre would do for a rough check). I bet you'll see an improvement.

If you can afford one more eyepiece, then consider an 8mm. This would give you 81x magnification on it's own and if your barlow is OK with it you'd have 162x with that. This is pretty much the max your scope could handle on many nights but occasionally a little more. if you find the barlow is not good with it then this should be replaced and you'll have a better set up all round.

Alan here 1.25" Eyepieces is really nice and the Discovery ones are excellent value for money.

[joey7415963]

YES! Hugs all around!

It was literally just the temperature of the scope. Last time I observed it must have just been a bad night as I observed for quite a while. But I let my telescope cool down properly last night and could see the detail and colours fairly finely.

Thank you everyone for your brilliant advice!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a small modest 5.1" (130mm )Dob and when i observe Jupiter i see the planet in shades of yellow and brown (surface and belts).

I also have both a 90mm and 70mm refractor and even with these i can clearly see a colour distinction between bands and surface.

[Ags]

I saw a greyish sky blue around Jupiter's north pole a couple of nights ago - is that possible? Or was it an illusion?

[toml42]

I saw a greyish sky blue around Jupiter's north pole a couple of nights ago - is that possible? Or was it an illusion?

Sounds like colour fringing to me, what was your observing setup?

[Ags]

Definitely not a color fringe - I think I would recognise that, and I own a Mak which wouldn't produce a color fringe. Maybe it could be an atmospheric effect - but I don't think so, Jupiter was pretty high at that point. It was around the northern polar zone. It's probably just my eyes, or a contrast with the brown of the NEB.