Planet details with 6"

[tonycynic]

How much detail am I likely to see with a 6" newtonian, 10mm with 2x barlow. Could see mars last week as a small disc but am keen to check out the gas giants and waiting to see if the asteroid hits mars.

[rmcpb]

Mars is difficult in any scope visually and a 6" will make it a real challenge. I can get the dark areas showing up with my 8" but that is about all. Seeing is really important and with the low angle Mars is reaching from here (it is always fairly low to the north) we are looking through lots of air which causes problems with seeing.

As for the gas giants a 6" will show lots of details but make sure it is cooled down, collimated and you do lots of observing as practice is very important in planetary observing.

Cheers