Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter
Jupiter is a tricky one when it comes to magnification. Jupiter, despite its size and brightness, does not handle magnification well. Its surface features are low contrast and are not "hard edged", that is, not well defined, and are well delicate at best. Increasing magnification actually spreads out the meager light and contrast of those features, resulting in what appears as a fuzzy low contrast image.
Last night I had some good seeing and was using my Vixen 130mm newtonian. The disk of Jupiter and its moons were crisply defined at 232x, infact, the moons were clearly seen as disks. The surface features of the planet, however, while there, were quite delicate and took minutes of viewing to tease them out properly. You need to take the time when viewing Jupiter, when you persevere, you will be rewarded. The planet is also very bright, and its sheer brightness serves to "oversaturate" the low contrast, delicate cloud features. It is often said that dark adaption is *bad* for Jupiter. On a more average night, about 130x provides the best view in my 130mm, while a better night allows 180x, and that perfect night can see 200x or more.
Saturn and Mars on the other hand, they handle magnification far better. Last night on Saturn, 232x was a piece of cake, crisp globe, crisp rings, crepe ring, Cassini Division, colour, it was a sight. probably could've gone 300x if I waited for it to rise higher. The features on Saturn and Mars are far higher contrast than those on Jupiter, hence they can handle magnification better.
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Thanks. Hard to believe but one of the best views I ever had of Jupiter was the night of the Great Comet Crash back in the 90s - through wispy clouds, using a cheap K-Mart Focal 114mm reflector which I kept at my parent's place, and which had an actual spider living on the spider vane. I made the mistake of removing and cleaning the mirrors, and never got it working that well again.
Oddly enough, last night at 200X in my 80mm refractor, I thought the view of Jupiter showed more detail on the planet's body than it did on Saturn at the same power.
Interesting your perspective on Mars, no matter which big or small telescope I use, I always have a tough time with it.
Regards,
Renato