Yeah, they're lovely planets alright. The first time I ever saw them was
through a friend's 3 inch Tasco (of course, this wasn't your typical poor
Tasco of today). The night was particularly steady and magnification was
boosted to close to 200x.

The Cassini division of Saturn stood out quite well and at times I thought
the Enke division was visible, although I doubt it really. I could see
Titan and the rings were at their maximum that year.

With Jupiter, several bands could be seen and with good amounts of color.
The four moons stood out well and one was casting a shadow on the surface of
Jupiter.

We were at a dark sky site at the time and visited many Messier objects that
night also. I'll never forget the greenish glow of M42 or the vastness of
M13.

I think you'll really enjoy your scope. A 5" has enough aperture to provide
some rewarding views of DSOs from a dark sky site.

Ash




"..." wrote in message
. ..
Tonight, I had my first view of both Saturn and Jupiter through my newly
arrived 5" Orion. Absolutely gorgeous. I didn't quite know what to
expect.
Both my girlfriend and I really enjoyed watching the two planets. I can't
wait to get out of the city and look for deep sky objects.