Quote:
Originally Posted by pberrett
Regarding Saturn,
I would have thought one could not see much of Saturn with a small aperture. I have watched videos n Youtube of people with 8" and above dobsonians and they get a very small image with fuzzy rings.
cheers Peter
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I have telescopes from A 60 mm refractor to 16" reflector and Saturn with it's rings are visible in all of them.
The rings of Saturn where found to be rings and not parts of the planets disc by Christiaan Huygens
He used a 60mm refractor and a 12mm eyepiece.
My first view of the rings of Saturn where with a 50mm spotting scope.
One shouldn't expect Hubble type images through the eyepiece of small telescopes.
Look at the images produced on this site taken by very modest sized telescopes.
Don't forget video's and imaging accentuate the seeing conditions when looking at bright objects like the planets.
The amount of Wows! I hear when people first see Saturn and to a lesser extent Jupiter through even the smallest apertures Makes it all worth while.
I have seen great views of Saturn through my 8" SCT including the "comet"
band of Methane that encircled the planet many years ago.
Do some observing and learn to observe not just look, and then you will appreciate what small telescopes do to astronomy.
Cheers
