Mars Meade ETX 90

Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90 wuth
a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish disc with
a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively new
to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is this
typical?

Any of you splendid fellows help?

Regards
Timelord (Nottingham)

- And on Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:34:57 GMT, it was spake thus said in message "Timelord" :


Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90 wuth
a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish disc with
a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively new
to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is this
typical?

Any of you splendid fellows help?

Regards
Timelord (Nottingham)


Sorry for nicking the thread...

Maybe someone can tell me in laymans terms why images you manage to capture
of the planets to my eye are much more blurred than these amazing pin sharp
ones you capture of the galaxies...

I just can't get my head round why something as 'close' as a planet's harder
to get a clean image than something that's many lightyears away...

TIA
--
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
And nickw7coc on
Yahoo & MSN
but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
also on Skype and Google talk

"Timelord" wrote in message
...

Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90
wuth a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish
disc with a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively
new to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is
this typical?

Any of you splendid fellows help?

Regards
Timelord (Nottingham)



A lot depends on the viewing conditions. I use a Tal 100R and can make out
some greyish surface features, but viewing conditions have to be very good.
What I find is that if you look for a long period of time you can make out
more features, but you ain't gonna see it like Hubble!

Martin

The "amazing pin sharp" images of galaxies (or nebulae, for that
matter) appears to be so only because the actual resolution (as well as
image scale) is *MUCH* lower than that of a planetary image. IOW, a
typical very good deep sky image has a resolution of about 2" with a
scale of, say, 0.7"/px while a very good planetary image may have a
resolution of 0.5" (4x better) with a scale of 0.15"/px (4.3x larger
image scale).

Andrea T.

"Nick" wrote in message
...
- And on Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:34:57 GMT, it was spake thus
said in message "Timelord"
:

Maybe someone can tell me in laymans terms why images you manage to
capture
of the planets to my eye are much more blurred than these amazing pin
sharp
ones you capture of the galaxies...

I just can't get my head round why something as 'close' as a planet's
harder
to get a clean image than something that's many lightyears away...

With our kit; planets require more magnification. The effects of the earths
air currents are magnified accordingly. ie stars being magnified as much as
that used on a planet would appear larger (more distorted) than with lower
magnification. Atmospheric effects would appear to wobble it around the
point source in a magnified fashion; therefore distorting them. Widefield
shots of large galaxies come out crisper than narrower field views of
smaller galaxies.

Regards


Chris

"Timelord" wrote in message
...

Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90
wuth a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish
disc with a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively
new to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is
this typical?

I've always found Mars to be disappointing with a scope. Perhaps my
expectations were a little high. Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon should still a
little more impressive through your scope. You could try using a coloured
filter on Mars to bring out more detail. For a cheap option try the wratten
#21 (orange) filter.

Regards


Chris

On or about 2005-11-01,
Timelord illuminated us with:

Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90 wuth
a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish disc with
a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively new
to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is this
typical?

I have an ETX-105 and I'd agree that I was a little disappointed in what I
could see of Mars. I've not tried to look at it at the best time (which
would be around midnight I'd guess) or in a particulary dark spot, so I may
be able to get a slightly better view with some patience. For my garden I
need leaf-fall though!

As someone else has said, you'll be more impressed with Saturn, Jupiter and
our Moon when you get a chance to see them. You should just be able to make
our Uranus too, it will appear a little smaller than Mars, but rather
further away!

If you're not too bothered about just looking at the planets, try looking at
some of the clusters. You should be impressed at how much more you can see
through the telescope than with the naked eye! Unless you live in a really
Dark Place.

--
Mark
Real email address | Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, while
is mark at | dishwashing liquid is made with real lemons?
ayliffe dot org |

On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:34:57 GMT, "Timelord"
wrote:


Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90 wuth
a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish disc with
a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively new
to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is this
typical?

Any of you splendid fellows help?

Mars is an amazing planet. No, really it is ;-)

I've never really thought of myself as much of a planetay imager but
I'm really getting a buzz out of capturing the planet and learning
about the features I'm recording.

I was sitting in Sir Partick Moore's dining room today (as you do!)
and looking at his globe of Mars thinking how difficult it was to
relate what imagers capture to the actual surface features shown on
the globe (a map from probe images). Then it occurred that imagers
weren't that far off seeing what the probes can see.

If you look at this image I took last night...

http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/Mars/mars-20051031.html

....it mainly shows the streak. However, just under the surface of the
image are tantalising details of things like martian craters,
volcanoes and elevated plateaus.

Mars is a long way off. It helps if you prepare yourself for what you
are about to look at. For me - I'm never prepared and even with a poor
image like I got last night (due mainly to the wind)l, it's always a
thrill to be able to look at a reference globe or map and identify
real features that I didn't realise were there.

Don't feel disappointed, you're started the walk on the road to
discovery. Feel thrilled!
--
Pete
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk

"Timelord" wrote in message
...

Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90
wuth a 2x Barlow and 26mm eyepiece. Saw a small white/slightly pinkish
disc with a streak across the middle.

The thing is I feel slightly disappointed, it may because I'm relatively
new to this, question is - what should I be able to see with my setup? Is
this typical?

Any of you splendid fellows help?

Regards
Timelord (Nottingham)

I've got the same scope as you, and I remember thinking the same thing. I
was certainly naive as I'd seen lovely pictures of Mars on the Sky at Night
taken by amateur astronomers and thought I would soon be seeing the same
thing through the eyepiece.

After a few minutes viewing followed by some research I should have done
before buying I rapidly realised that to get these sort of images you need
much better equipment, and the time and expertise to do a lot of image
processing.

Personally I reconciled myself to this relatively poor state of affairs,
rather than going the CCD/processing route, as to me the whole thrill of it
is to see the planet directly through the optics. I found Saturn much more
satisfying, especially being able to see the rings.

So stick with it, if nothing else it makes you realise just how vast the
distances involved are

- Michael

[quote=Timelord]Managed to see Mars last night for the first time using my Meade ETX 90 ....I feel slightly disappointed typical? Any of you splendid fellows help?

Regards Timelord

I find Mars much too bright visually in a dark sky [without a filter or slight haze] and get better views at dusk. Magnification should not be excessive. Problem is it's too low currently at dusk but will get higher - as it moves away from earth ;-(.

Nytecam