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Old 06-01-2015, 09:00 AM
louie_the_fly (Stew)
Astronewbie

louie_the_fly is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Littlehampton, SA
Posts: 240
Hi Adrian.

The smallest scope I've looked thru was a 5 inch newtonian, so not 100% sure what you should see with yours. Re Saturn, with my 8 inch cassegrain I can clearly make out the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings.. You should get a nice view of M42 (Great Nebula in Orion). If you have, or can get hold of, a wide view eyepiece it's a pretty awesome sight. M42 was my first ooh ahh deep sky object when I was a boy. Jupiter is a good view, especially when the Great Red spot comes into view. You might not see much detail in it though. Here's a picture I took of Jupiter with my C8, taken with my mobile phone through the eyepiece. It's an average photo. You should also get good views of most globular clusters.

Have you got a planetarium software? I use stellarium. It's a free download off the web. There are also free star charts available on the web. There's a link in the sticky threads in this section (Beginners Talk) of the forums.

I still spend some nights just exploring the sky. I also use Astroplanner, which you can also download.

Have a look at this website as well. http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm It's a scope simulator. Don't let the fact that things look small in the scope dampen your enthusiasm.

Most of all, have fun.
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