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Hi Martin
Assuming your 6” optical tube and components are of at least average quality, that is, the optics are not too rough, poorly corrected, etc. then I would persevere with the 6”.
You are probably suffering the symptoms of poor seeing, lack of experience and sky high expectations, and perhaps poor collimation?
Poor seeing:
Even with my Celestron C9.25 and Takahashi Mewlon 180, I can easily relate to your descriptions of Jupiter. Small disc, a few indistinct bands and what Red Spot!
When the seeing is really good, with Jupiter high in the sky (over 70 degrees altitude) and a thermally stable mirror (scope cooled to ambient) then with practice, you will be able to see more detail on Jupiter and even see the (pale) GRS.
Lack of experience:
It takes time and practice to learn how to “see” at the eyepiece. At public field nights, I am often astonished at the range of experiences reported by members of the public looking through the same ‘scope at the same object. Some have the ability to see most of the detail that is present whilst others report seeing a fuzzy blob.
As you gain more experience, you will be more relaxed and begin to see ‘what is actually there” rather than cloud your mind with what should be there, from looking at the world class images available on the web these days. These images will invariably show text book perfect renditions of Jupiter because they combine several 100 short exposure images stacked together, under ideal conditions, taken with large telescopes and skilfully processed.
High expectations:
If you base your expectations on Hubble images, space mission fly by’s and images captured through mega metre professional scopes the you will be disappointed with the views through your 6”.
Poor collimation:
This can make a big difference to the quality of the image seen at the eyepiece. Even if the image is small, with a properly collimated ‘scope and good seeing, you will be able to see a lot of detail through a good 6” ‘scope.
The big danger (and expense) for you is that if you purchase a 12” ‘scope and suffer poor collimation, poor seeing and have little experience, the views of Jupiter may not be that much better that your current 6”.
Cheers
Dennis
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