celestron ALT 130

michaelcohen · Joined: 27 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

I just purchased a celestron SLT 130. I am a novice. The sales pitch was that you can see the polar caps on Mars, and the rings of Saturn. When I use the scope the planets look like small white dots with no detail, much less rings. What am I doing wrong? Do I have to upgrade the eyepieces to obtain these images? I am using the standard eyepieces right now that came in the box (9mm, 25mm)
Mike

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5171

Hi

First, you will never see planets in a telescope the way they look in a picture and Mars must be optimally placed to see the polar caps. The rings of Saturn, however, can be seen beginning at about 40x.

For planets, you will want to be around 175x in that scope. That translates to a 4mm eyepiece or your 9mm eyepiece with a 2x barlow, usch as the Meade 126. Beware the temptation to go beyond this for magnification. Image quality will become an issue, due to your scope's size and atmospheric seeing conditions.
_________________
Thanks for posting with us
Joanie K - Your personal optics expert

Forum: http://www.opticsplanet.com/msgboard
Blog: http://blog.opticsplanet.com/
Store: http://www.opticsplanet.net/

Phone: 847-513-6201
Fax: 847-919-3003