Can I really see the rings of Saturn and the red spot on Jupiter with a 300$ telescope?

Question

I'm interested in amateur astronomy and trying to figure out what type of scope to buy. My question is about the resolution one can achieve with a typical 4.5 or 6 inch dobsonian mount telescope. I want to be able to see the rings of Saturn.

Also, when people say these kinds of scopes are good for viewing deep space. Does that mean you can really see nebulas and galaxies? If so, are these object going to be clear enough to actually know what they are?

Answer 1

The rings? - easily,

the Red Spot? - maybe barely, under very good conditions.

You'll have a lot more trouble with your mount than you will with your optics.

Answer 2

Good question.  That shows you have reasonable expectations.  The views through your scope will never look nearly as good as the photos you see in magazines or online.

With a 4.5 inch dobsonian, you will definitely be able to see Saturns rings and the great red spot on Jupiter.  

Through my 5" refractor with a 9mm eyepiece and barlow, I can get a very good view of Saturn.  Not super spectacular, the planet certainly does not fill the eyepiece.  It looks like a enlarged dot, a disk, with easily visible rings.  A little color.  The Cassini division barely visible.

Jupiter looks slightly larger, with some banding barely visible with slight color.  The red spot can be seen but not with much detail.  The moons of Jupiter are also visible in the same frame.

Depp space objects look good through a 5 or 6 inch scope.  With a low-powere eyepiece (I use a 24mm) for DSO's, you can easily make out many Messier objects.  None of them show any color.  More like white "fuzzies" with shape that can be detected.  For example, Andromeda galaxy looks like a large white fuzzy spot with the shape of a galaxy and no detail in the dust lanes at all.  DSO's viewing depends heavily on your light pollution.  Dark skies are necessary to see anything at all.

Here's a good source of info.  These are observing reports from people using various sizes/types of scope.  They will give you a general idea of what you can expect to see.

http://www.visualdeepsky.org/netastrocat...

Answer 3

Yes. You can watch the rings of Saturn with a 4.5" telescope, but no the red spot. You can see the four galilean satellites of Jupiter and the craters of the moon. The Orion´s nebula too.

Answer 4

You can see the rings of Saturn with a $50 scope, you will have to wait a few months before Saturn is high enough to view though, it is too low on the horizon at sunset to get a good look at these days.

a 6" dob will show you the great red spot, check out this question for some pointers on viewing it:  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

You will definitely be able to see deep sky objects such as nebula and galaxies with either, but the 6 inch will give you a better view.  One thing to keep in mind is that they will be faint and for the most prat gray, our eyes are not sensitive enough to see colors in the low amounts of light we get from those objects.  And they will be far more impressive from darker skies as opposed to in the middle of the city.

For a good $300 scope, try this one:  http://www.telescope.com/control/product...

It is an 8 inch dob, I have it's 10 inch brother, it is a great scope.  You will need to get a higher power eyepiece or two and some good star charts to go with it to get the most out of it.  I'd also recommend upgrading the finderscope to a right angle correct model like this one:  http://www.telescope.com/control/product...  Getting a laser collimation tool and a telrad reflex sight.  Keep in mind you do not need to get all these at the same time, but I would get a higher power eyepiece ASAP.

And for a good program to make your own charts, try this:  http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email.  I was in your exact situation about a year and a half ago

Answer 5

Yes, but they will seem kinda blurry.

You can see galaxies with the naked eye. They're just so far away, they appear to be stars. If you are hoping for a defined image like the ones you see on the internet, you might have to spend a little more money..Lol.

Answer 6

Yes

However, don't expect them to be as clear as some of the pictures in astronomy books.

I've seen the rings detached from the disk of Saturn with a 3-inch refractor.  I've seen the red spot (as a dot) on a 4-inch reflector (Newtonian)

These were both less than 300 bucks at the time.

With a 10-inch Newtonian, I can identify by sight any of the "Messier" objects (the list includes nebulae and galaxies).  But for fainter galaxies (NGC objects), I am sometimes lucky to correctly identify that there is a "smudge" in the correct position.

Answer 7

telesscopes are amazing value nowadays, and 300 bucks will buy you a lot of telesscope.

the very best thing you can do is have a look through one and see for yourself. local astronomers may be able to help you on this.

with few exceptions, deep sky stuff will be silvery smudges in a scope this size. i can see cool stuff in my big dob, but in an 18 inch scope you sort of expect that. :-)

Answer 8

Jupiter and Saturn can be seen fairly well in a lowly 60mm telescope.at 70-100x  It gets better with the size and quality of the equipment, but only to a point.  Very quickly you will run into real atmospheric limitations, so going above 300X even with the largest of landbased scopes can only happen when the prevailing conditions permit.  Deep Space objects present a different kind of problem.  Most of the popular ones are enormously huge;  and very very distant and dim.  To see them clearly you need light gathering and resolving power and very little maginification.  But, most of all, especially with deep space, nothing beats a really dark sky;  which means putting at least 30 miles between you and the nearest town.