Your best chance of seeing majestic views of Jupiter is when it is “in opposition.” This essentially means that Jupiter, the Earth, and the sun are aligned. These are much fainter than the rings of Saturn and they were only discovered in 1979 by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. Rings of JupiterĮven if you crank it up to 150x or even higher, you’ll struggle to spot the Jupiter rings. I cover how to work out magnifications and eyepiece sizes for planet viewing in more depth in my article on the best eyepieces to use. As a guide, it is 50 times the aperture in inches (or 2x the aperture in millimeters). The telescope’s aperture size will determine this. The chosen magnifications work as long as they are within your telescope’s maximum useful magnification, which is typically listed in its specifications. Alternately, using a 2x Barlow lens with the 10 mm eyepiece would give you 150x magnification. To get the 120x to 150x, you’ll need eyepieces in the 5 or 6 mm range. So, for example, a 10 mm eyepiece on a scope with a 750 focal length will give you 75x magnification only. Jupiter and moons – 7-16-19 with Europa in transit image taken via a SCT8 telescopeĮyepiece focal length = telescope focal length ÷ magnification I cover this in my article on using telescopes with glasses. Once you’ve got your telescope lined up, scale-up in magnification (smaller eyepiece focal length).īy the way, if you need to wear glasses you’re best using eyepieces that cater for the depth you need to comfortably look through the eyepiece. Next, looking through the telescope, start with low magnification (larger eyepiece focal length) to focus in on the planet. If you’re lucky enough to have good viewing conditions, first, locate Jupiter in the night sky with your unaided eyes with the help of a star chart. Trying to find Jupiter in a city full of light pollution is difficult. That said, you’ll also need the conditions to be reasonably dark and clear. Jupiter is the third brightest celestial feature most nights after the Moon and Venus (I wrote about this in What Does Venus Look Like Through a Telescope), so if you’re looking at something fairly bright, there’s a reasonable chance you’re on the right track. So, make sure you choose your location on Stellarium or check whether the star chart you are using is for the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. What celestial bodies appear at what times in your area will depend on this. You’ll also want to make sure that you have configured the settings of your star map app for the right hemisphere. I find has a useful page for checking the night sky for the planets that are visible on a given night and the time expected at your particular location. How to see the king of planets in the night skyĬheck a star chart or use a star-charting app such as Stellarium to make sure you stand a fair chance of spotting Jupiter through a cheap telescope, binoculars, or even with the naked eye. Though, like Saturn’s, the rings of Jupiter are slowly dissipating. This compares to Saturn’s rings, which comprise ice. Dust comprises most of Jupiter’s rings, involving four components: an inner halo, a bright but thin main ring, and two gossamer outer rings. Though, the rings of Jupiter are much fainter to observe than the rings of Saturn. While we typically associate rings with Saturn, Jupiter has them as well. Does Jupiter have rings? Jupiter rings facts NASA tells us these are actually “cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium”. The stripes and swirls that you see in images are known as the clouds of Jupiter, but these are not the clouds we know of on Earth. Seeing the four Galilean moons of Jupiter through telescope types setup for planet viewing is possible under the right conditions. So, if you are into viewing these moons… check out my article on what you can expect to see and how to identify the moons of Jupiter. Appropriately, all the Galilean moons of Jupiter have been named from figures that the deities of Jupiter and Zeus “interact with”.
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