Viewing planets from amateur telescopes

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:24 am

BTW, the Meade ETX105 which is equivalent to the Nexstar 4SE is slightly better in performance. I was able to resolve Uranus and Neptune to a greenish and bluish disk previously when I still owned it.

Samuel Ng who used to own an N4 did a side by side comparison with my ETX105 one night and posted this report on Cloudnights :

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=780

cheers

pikkidok · Post by **pikkidok** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:10 pm

i got a cheap zoom spotting scope which I bought in Malaysia costing MYR230. Less than SGD100. I can see Saturn with its ring almost edge on. The optics were pretty good... At 30X onwards, the rings were already visble but small and cant see much details. Mars was disappointing. I can only see a small orange disc without much feature. This is a sub $100 scope.

A proper telescope should show more details.

My problem however is I have a decent 90mm scope but I don't have a decent mount....

Bergkamp_ · Post by **Bergkamp_** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:59 pm

pikkidok, becos the zoom spotting scope got mag limitation. That is the reason. I'm sure it will gives pretty good wide field on the stars.

yybmage · Post by **yybmage** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:06 pm

Hehehe, the answer to your question is a definite yes. You will be able to see the planets using whatever equipment, even your naked eyes. However, the quality and magnification comes from the scope and the eye piece, but don't worry too much, the nexstar series will do just fine in viewing planets. Use a 12mm or 5mm eyepiece.

pikkidok · Post by **pikkidok** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:20 pm

Departmental store scopes...those about 50mm aperture ones are hindered by the low quality Huygens eyepieces they supply and also the low quality/or lack of finderscope.

if you can put a decent eye piece on these scopes, you can certainly see Saturn's ring and Jupiter's moons if you can aim correctly.

Saturn's ring was visible to my 65mm celestron spotting scope (I dont recommend because it is expensive, SGD300) and my cheapo 60mm spotting scope (highly recommended, SGD100).

Planet details are hard to see. I cant see any detail on Mars or Saturn even at 125X with my "real" telescope. Just a bright ball. Maybe my focusing is bad or my eye is problematic.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:33 pm

I bought this cheapie Barska 60mm f/900mm scope back in Manila for about US $100 including the EQ-1 clone mount. (I was only after the mount)

Surprisingly the tube was good! after I'd thrown away the crap eyepieces and used a better (although still GSO) diagonal and some Vixen Plossls, it was quite decent... pretty much as decent as my Vixen 80mm f/11.

Post by **Airconvent** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 10:53 am

Samuel, a previous active member here used to own the tasco 60mm as his first scope. He slung it behind like an old HK martial arts swordsman but in the end gave it up because it was impossible for serious use in Singapore due to aperture.
its all about the sky condition. Even a 60mm scope can view the Veil nebula in Mersing but its impossible here in Singapore. My recommendation is to get a bigger scope if you can unless you travel to dark place often. 5" is probably the minimum but for more serious and frequent, an 8" is a must.