I saw Jupiter

[Star explorer]

hi i know im revising an old thread but i have a question or two. a few days ago i got a Celestron Nexstar GT 114 for christmas im having alot of fun with it. i saw Uranus (please don't make a joke about that) but the only thing is that when i saw it it just looked like a bright star (i double checked to make sure it was Uranus) some of the people posted above said they could see Saturn and its rings with a spotting scope or Jupiter and its moons with binoculars so how come when i look at Uranus with a telescope thats more powerful i can only see what looks like a bright star. im using the highest power eyepiece i have.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Because Uranus is just that small and that far away.

On a side note, I just got a Nexstar 4SE, and that's one of my intended targets, among many others once the skies clear.

 

[TMac3000]

I found out that Jupiter would appear in the Southern Sky by Stellarium and I pointed my telescope on it. I was able to see the could bands and three very small but sharply defined points of light, two to the left of the planet and one to the right. I assume that to the left were Io and Europa and to the right Callisto.

More magnification wasn't possible, because it is a telescope I once got for a birthday. You know what that means: Low-Quality optics, a bad stand and almost non-existing accurate pointing. Maybe it would be cool to visit an observatory.

I love Stellarium!

I have seen Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula through my little 3-inch. It's beat up, taped up, and God only knows how old, but it gets the job done.

 

[markl316]

Not with a spotting scope you won't. Himalia is Jupiter's fifth brightest moon and that's down at magnitude 15, way beyond the reaches of spotting scopes. You'll probably need a 12" scope at least and inky black skies to see it.

The OP will have seen the 4 Galilean satellites (as mentioned above). The 'fifth' moon that s/he saw will have been HP 93649 A, a 6th magnitude star in Sagittarius.

I have a 12 inch scope, and while the THEORETICAL limiting magnitude is 15.1, Jupiter's brightness would wash away anything near it that was 15th magnitude. I was in a very dark spot looking at jupiter through my 12 inch scope and saw only 4 moons. That 5th one was definitely a star.

 

[agentgonzo]

I have a 12 inch scope, and while the THEORETICAL limiting magnitude is 15.1, Jupiter's brightness would wash away anything near it that was 15th magnitude.

Mark, if you want to see if you *can* see any more Jovian Satellites, you can block out Jupiter and most of its glare with an occulting bar made from tin-foil on the eye-piece. It's what people have used to spot the Martian moons: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/The_Martian_Moons_in_2007_and_2008.html


Star Explorer,
As has been mentioned, Uranus is a lot smaller and further away than Saturn. However, even in a 144mm scope at maximum resolution you should just be able to make out that it's a disc rather than a pin-prick. It will still be tiny and you'll only notice it if you are looking for it. If your scope is collimated and properly focussed, Uranus should look like a slightly out of focus star that is in contrast to the perfectly focussed stars nearby. It should also be that familiar turquoise colour.