Hi Ben,
I too have a 6” dob. And as Liz said, what you are seeing with Saturn at the moment is spot on. Back a few months (and leading up to) opposition (the point where Saturn and Earth are closest), parts of the black rings were easily detectable using a 7mm or 5 mm ep, and you could make out some shading bands of colour on the planet. I have also counted six moons with ease.
Though Saturn is always spectacular, it’s not great viewing at the moment – so much smaller than what it was and the rings edge on. The seeing conditions will dictate how much shading the bands on the planet will reveal. Some days I don’t see anything, some days I’ll be very happy with the detail I could see. For the days I don’t see a lot of detail, heck, I’m just happy I get to see Saturn anyway – how lucky are we! I have a 4mm Celestron ep, the hole to look through is not much bigger than a nail head (amazes me how much I can in fact see thru this little dot, but I do). The f.o.v. is very small for a dob, but I have used it plenty, though for short amounts of time (too much work, nudging dob), and it brings Saturn really close, the whole fov is nearly all planet. I can make out the banding better on this than on a 7mm. The weather hasn’t allowed me yet to try my barlowed 10mm down to 5mm, so I can’t comment at the moment on the abilities of this (a 5mm ep). With a dob, I much prefer to have wider fov’s (66 – 70 deg) so I can enjoy the object longer in my fov. And I do use this much more than my 4mm it’s true. But I still like to get that 4mm on, just for a quick look, before I start to get frustrated with nudging. As for viewing of the rings, I've found that a 10mm or a 7mm will give me easy views of them, including the black ones.
The next opposition of Saturn will be April 2011, (approx. every 13 months) the month leading up to during and after will be particularly spectacular. But don’t worry, Saturn’s rings will start to open up again soon. As Liz said, the rings at the moment are only 1.7 deg. The end of this month will see them open up to 2.1, July 3.2, Aug. 4.4, Sept. 6.1, Oct 7.8, Nov 9.3, Dec. 10.1 (Wow). The figures I have listed are for at the end of each month. As you will see in the following link, it shows you month by months how the rings will open up.
//sites.google.com/site/larrygerstman/saturn-s-rings From October on, Saturn will look really amazing!
Jupiter is going to be in opposition in September. Though it is missing its south eq. belt at the moment, trust me through your 6” scope, using either a 10mm or a 5mm ep will give amazing views. It won’t disappoint. I saw it for the first time in Dec. 2009 when it was a lot smaller, and very low in the horizon, and it was still amazing! You will see the belting, and if you’re looking at this planet whilst it’s face is showing its red spot, you will just make that out as well. Here is a link showing all the transit times for the red spot for this year. The table is shown in Universal Time, so factor your time zone into this. And you will even see its four moons with ease.
Here is another link thay may be of interest to you as well - an Astronomy Calender of Events for 2010.
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy_calendar_2012.html.
If you are able to get a hold of the book Astronomy 2010 Australia, it will really be helpful for you. They sell for $25 (Ozscopes, Andrews - both online) many places that sell scopes will sell this book. It has a calender of info for each month, maps, and a ton of helpful information. Worth the money.
Ben, in the last six months that I’ve gotten into doing this hobby, I have noticed my eyes "see" so much more detail nowadays. Don’t just look at an object – study it, look at it for a long time (30mts for me at least is common), see as much as you can see, use techniques like averted vision, protect your night vision, etc. It probably took me three months (a whole lot of viewing within this time), before I really noticed how my eyes have gotten better, and continue to do so. So please, have patience, make yourself comfy, it will get better and you will enjoy this hobby more and more. You see, your eyes have to get trained, taking them to the limits of the scopes abilities. You will get there. The journey is the fun part, because it makes us want more and more.
As long as you have patience and a keen desire to learn and see more, the stars and planets will be there for a long time to come. Enjoy Ben!
Suzy.
(there are videos on youtube taken through the eyepiece you can have a look at as well but youll have to search)
