Newborn amature needing help

[Hydra]

Well as the title suggests i'm extremely amature:help:
I have a sky watcher scope F=900 D=70 on EQ1 mount and got a few eye pieces with it (10x 25x and 2x barlow)
I've checked out the moon and have even found jupiter.
1st question when i viewed jupiter it appered very small in my scope, barely made out any detail, how can i increase size and detail do i need different eye pieces????
Question 2 am i capable of viewing galaxies with this scope whats its limits.

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Hydra
That is a very basic telescope. It will not give really large views of Jupiter because there is not sufficient light getting to the eyepiece.

However if the telescope is polar mounted (the EQ1 main axis, RA, pointing at the south celestial pole). You will be able to see jupiter at a maximum magnification of around 90x with your 10mm lens. You could try the barlow with this to increase the magnification to 180x but I don't think the view will be as good. A good dark site will be needed to see any galaxies. I have seen some of the brighter galaxies with a 70mm telescope from a dark site but to find them you will need some practice at using the telescope and a star atlas to find them.

Try to join an amateur astronomy club and take your scope to one of their viewing sites. I am sure there will be someone that will help you to find objects with your scope.

Barry

[jjjnettie]

You're in luck Aaron. This weekend there is a star party at Cambroon Observatory near Kenilworth.
You'll meet a few IIS members and get some valuable advice.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=49748

The weekend after is the Barambah Dark Sky Camp. 3 nights of dark sky goodness.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=49484

Beginners are most welcome at both events. We're a pretty friendly bunch, and would love to help you along.

[hulloleeds]

Not to confuse you here, but if size of the view of jupiter is one of your primary goals, even having a larger reflector, ie a dobsonian quite possibly won't satisfy you.

I might be wrong on this but from the view on my 8" (1200 focal length), at quite large mag, it wasn't particularly large. This includes the view through a 4mm eyepiece (which produces for the most part, a very "humid" view of the planet, due to seeing).

I have a 12 coming today and with an extra 300 focal length, I don't expect the view of jupiter to be much better, either. I have seen through a 900 focal length scope and the size wasn't that much better from 1200 so I'm not expecting miracles from 1500.

Of course sheer size isn't anything to do with the quality of seeing, though. I mean, you could have a schmidt-cassegrain scope with a focal length of 2700 and I'm assuming that despite the probably great size of the view, the seeing would likely wreck it most of the time (unless you're handpicking good frames from a camera capture).

Anyway, just a bit of rambling.

[bmitchell82]

The size of the focal length isn't really what your looking for, sure it does change things, but magnification is magnification, SCT get you there quicker and reflectors a bit slower.

A 12" dob is particularly good at viewing/imaging planets as its light gathering power has a fair bit of punch (the more you magnifiy something the dimmer it gets). though a 4mm orthoscopic ep and a 12" SW dobsonian mounted on a eq6 it was possible to make out all the equitorial bands the GRS and many of the swirls in between.

As for your galaxies the brighter ones are Southern Pinwheel (M83), Sombreo (M104 i think somewhere around that), Centuras A. There are others. but using a very low power (bigger number on the ep = less magnification) eg 20mm or so will allow the most though put of light for your eye.

Disclaimer... astronomy isn't what you see in flashy books... to be blunt the human eye sucks at light detection which ultimately is colour saturation, what it is good at is contrast adjustment.

do follow JJJ out to these camps/nights they will open your eyes up and show you a whole range of different things to look at

[Hydra]

Thanks for the feed back just wasn't sure of the capabilities. The scope was a xmas present from my wife last year (for which i'm greatful), she new i had an interest in astronomy and from what she told me the guy at the store said the scope would be great for begginers. I'm very pleased with it but i guess i was just expecting to be able to see better detail than what i have. Unfortunetly jeanette it is very hard for me to attend the star parties as i have a very busy lifestyle but thanks anyway. Is there any additional eye pieces or filters i could purchase that could help with better detail

[jjjnettie]

With such a small aperture, you really wouldn't want to add any more glass in your visual train.
Once you start to learn your way around the night sky, you'll find there is plenty of stuff up there for you to peruse.