Your opinions please

[ianB]

These two images are very close to what i actually see through the eyepiece of my 6 SE at x166
Conditions were not good tonight, rain earlier, windy and clouds around, been like this since i have had my scope, 2 months, oh yes and very humid tonight, i was on the balcony without a shirt, really hot night.
Anyway from these images would you say that its basically what to expect from a 6 inch in these conditions or do you think more should be seen? ( only took it outside about 1/2 before use, due to weather )
Its just that i have never looked through any other telescope so i wonder are my optics ok a
Or is there a problem ? My collimation seems good to me.
If you have a 6SE i would especially appreciate your thoughts.

Many thanks.

[Astro_Bot]

For an eyepiece-like view, that looks fine to me.

If you have doubts, you should probably get yourself along to a star party and look through a few other 'scopes for comparison. However, if you're happy with the view, why put yourself through that? Enjoy what you have!

[raymo]

If you are seeing images like that, [especially Jupiter] with your
6SE you're doing just fine. With Jupiter being lowish in the sky,
and having a lot of poor seeing lately,I can't see it like that in my 8"
or 10" Newts. When the seeing is very good your 6SE will handle maybe
220-250x, and then you should see a bit more detail.
raymo

[JB80]

It heartens me to see that as it's very similar to my best views as well, spending a bit of time at the EP you can tease extra detail out or at least it seems that way.
Seeing is definitely the biggest issue with viewing planets and would normally be the cause before collimation.

[ianB]

Yes when my situation allows i would love to go to a star party, and yes these are basically what i see as i look through the ep. One day i will have a try at astrophotography with a webcam as i know the images will be good via image stacking etc.

[ianB]

Thats good to hear, from what i know winter will allow better viewing, so i am really looking forward to cold weather.

[brisen]

Hi Ian

I am just down the road from you. Jupiter looks pretty much like I have been seeing with my 11" Celestron at 121X in an area with similar light pollution to where you are. I haven't had a look for the last few nights because everytime I set up the scope the clouds roll in and it has been so humid with poor seeing so I haven't bothered.

Brian

[Poita]

If it looks that good through a 6SE, then yep, you have a pretty nice scope.

[Camelopardalis]

Yeah, if the conditions aren't great and you're seeing the Cassini Division then in my experience you're scope is doing a good job :thumbsup: also if there's only a couple of degrees difference between inside and outside then your scope will cool fairly quickly, the 6 doesn't trap a huge volume of air.

The altitude that Saturn is reaching should help too, likewise with Mars, but Jupiter is low this time around...although I did have a cracking session in the mountains with my 11" a few months back, best I've ever seen despite the altitude.

[ianB]

Thanks all for the feed back, i was actually surprised last night that i could, for the first time, make out a hint of shade on two areas of mars, only slightly but it was there for sure.
And yes i can see the cassini division with saturn, just, but as stated last night was not great seeing conditions, i guess then my poor views of jupiter are for the reasons already mentioned.
Many thanks.
ian