Hey all,
A couple of months back was my first post here and I got my first telescope, an 8" Dob.
Having no experience using a telescope before, I decided to wing it and try to learn the ropes by trial and error. I tried to be realistic about my expectations. I didn't expect to be able to see amazing things like what you see in hubble images. I would have been satisfied even just seeing the moon and a few surface features.
I have managed to get out there on a few clear nights and try my luck. My first night I was happy just to swing the scope around and focus in on a few random stars. I had no expectations and was reasonably happy with how it went.
My second time, I went out a little more focused. I packed everything in the car and drove out to a really dark open space, and had Stellarium loaded onto my laptop with a Messier list in case I had any luck. The first thing I did was got my bearings. Figured out which way was north, south etc. It was fun figuring out what constellations were where, and trying to learn the sky. When I decided to get down to business, my first target was Jupiter. I was a little disappointed in what I saw, but not surprised.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4811359...in/photostream
This is not my photo, but is similar to what I saw. It was just a white blob that was
much worse quality than what appears in the photo. The surface appeared to be moving but I put that down to 'heat haze' as a guess. I tried to get a better image for an hour or so, adjusting my focus, changing my eyepiece between a 10mm and a 25mm (they came with the scope). I couldn't get any results, so I messed around for a while, zooming in on random stars, just messing around.
I was feeling a little lost after I packed up and went home and told myself maybe it was a bad night for it and I would get better at it. I decided to wait until a night where I could get a good view of the moon.
That night came a week or so later where the moon was in it's first quarter. I have heard that it is better to view the moon around this stage because the lack of light reflection makes it easier to make out features (craters etc). I set the scope up, a little excited, and had a look. With the viewfinder's small magnification, it looked pretty good. When I looked through the scope's eyepiece all I could see was a quarter moon shaped blob of light. No focusing could make it look any better. Different eyepieces didn't help. It was like looking into a torch. The light was bright, but not enough to make my eye uncomfortable. Surely an 8" Dob could give me a decent look at the moon? I got the ****s and packed up, feeling defeated.
A couple of weeks later, I was working night shift and noticed that it was an amazing night. Everything was so clear. I was excited to get home and get the scope out when I finished. Eventually I got home and decided to try Jupiter again. Nope, same old thing. Round blob of white with the 'heat haze'.
I am on the verge of giving up. I may be a total noob but I am convinced I am doing something wrong, or don't have the right eyepieces or equipment. I really don't know. I am posting here hoping someone will tell me I am doing something stupid, or give me a bit of a nudge in the right direction.
I have seen great pictures that people have taken with 8" Dob's before and I can't even get a look at anything that even resembles a planet or our own Moon.