You’ll be able to resolve some surface features on Mars, particularly high-contrast features such as the polar ice caps and the dark regions in its equatorial band. You may also glimpse Olympus Mons.

You should also be able to clearly resolve Jupiter’s banding patterns and of course the Great Red Spot. You will also be able to observe Jupiter’s moons, but you won’t see any surface detail. You might be able to barely make out the disc of the Galilean satellites.

You should be able to clearly discern the A and B rings of Saturn, and possibly see the Cassini Division. You’ll also be able to see Titan and perhaps some of the other brighter moons.

You’ll be able to resolve the discs of Uranus and Neptune. You’ll may also be able to make out Neptune’s large moon Triton.

There’s also a wealth of objects outside of the solar system you should be able to see – Nebulae, clusters, and other galaxies. There are lots of websites that give you this kind of information.

It takes practice sighting objects through a strong scope. I’d recommend you start with bright solar system objects until you are confident in your ability to find what you’re looking for. Then you can move on to dimmer objects that may not be visible to the ***** eye.

Posted by Jewel-Lotus ? ??? ????? ???, on January 29th, 2009, at 10:19 pm. #.

Before I answer that, it’s important that you have realistic expectations of what to see through ANY scope. Don’t expect big, colourful, eyepiece-filling objects. Planets will show small discs in most scopes, galaxies (except the closest and best-angled) will be faint patches of grey light, and nebulae will be diffuse.

Know also that, for general viewing, aperture is what’s important. The f-ratio is the focal length divided by the aperture. It has meaning for how much light it gathers compared to the magnification, and for photography.

Now, there are a hell of a lot of things you can “see”, so I can’t really answer that. How well you can see them is the issue, and that depends on the optical quality and the aperture. I have no experience of this scope and its optics, so I’ll leave that to others. But 5 inches is quite good if you have darkish skies (or know where they are).

With a 1000mm focal length, a 17 mm eyepiece will give 59X magnification. That’s good for larger deep-sky objects (globular clusters, open clusters, diffuse nebulae). For higher power, especially for planets, a good 2X or 3X Barlow lens is a good investment. Another higher power eyepiece (say, 12mm) and the Barlow gives you four eyepieces, effectively.

One short answer is to get a book of star-hopping charts and follow some of the “hops”. The objects will be interesting, and you’ll learn what they are as you read and observe. It also puts the scope through its paces. It will take a while to get used to following star hops, but learning is half the fun. Once you get good at it, you’ll be able to do other star hops more easily, and you’ll find yourself remembering more and more of the sky. At first, do it with a pair of binoculars also, as they have a much wider field and can be used to home in on many objects before using the scope.

Be patient, and learn slowly. That way, instead of saying “I’m on high power and I can’t see anything good”, you’ll say “Now I can see more detail than I did before”.

Posted by Tom A, on January 30th, 2009, at 10:51 pm. #.

Wow, you can see:
1. The craters and mountains of the moon.
2. Mars, with its ark and bright features.
3. Venus in phase.
4. Jupiter, its equatorial bands. 4 moons.
5. Saturn and its rings, some moons.
6. The Orion Nebula
7. Albireo, the double yellow and green star system.

Posted by Asker, on February 1st, 2009, at 11:51 pm. #.

The simple Answer is that you can see tons of stuff within the solar system, our galaxy and even other galaxies.
Forget the pretty pictures usually printed on the box, most of them were taken with the Hubble telescope.
Except for Planets, objects will be seen more like a Black and white picture, since the human eye cannot distinguish colours in dim light.
That does not keep the images from looking spectacular nonetheless.
Aside from the planets, start with star clusters for the deep space objects until you learn how to observe.
Download one of the free Planetarium programs to help you find your way around the sky. “Stellarium” and “Hello Northern Sky” are two of the most popular ones. Just enter your location, date and time and it will show you what the sky looks like from your house at any given time. Print out the charts and take them outside with you to use at the scope. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Adolph

Posted by Adolph K, on February 5th, 2009, at 12:05 am. #.

The 5″ Konus is an excellent entry-level telescope. If you are in the UK you’re going to have problems with Jupiter–for the next few years its orbit keeps it low to the horizon, so details will be hard to get. Saturn is moving into a rings-edge-on phase so we’re going to lose a few years there too, unfortunately. With Mars you’ll see polar caps and some dark markings on good night when Mars is fairly close (as right now). The person who said you’d see Olympus Mons was regrettably a tad over-enthusiastic. This is a 5″ Konus not a 5″ Takahashi, and even so, Olympus Mons–a big volcanic mountain on Mars–is an extremely difficult visual target.

The more general answer to your question is that you can do a lifetime of observing with a 5″ aperture, once you learn to appreciate its limits. If you like using a German Equatorial Mount, which is what came with your mount, then you could at some future point get a more stable set up (and less frustration hunting for things) by looking into a Vixen Great Polaris or Super Polaris. Otherwise at some point you might consider a Dobson configuration, but it won’t track.

There are several thousand open clusters, galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae that are within reach of a 5″ telescope, as well as many double stars. Skiff and Tirion’s BRIGHT STAR ATLAS gives 600 deep sky objets (open cluster, galaxies, globular clusters) on well-drawn maps and only costs U.S. $10.00. I have provided a link below. Anything listed in the Brigth Star Atlas (which is more than just bright stars) should be accessible in your scope.

Another book written specifically for your telescope size is Sue French’s “Celestial Sampler” which should be available at any major (and many minor) book vendors.

If you are a true beginner you will need to get a PLANISPHERE which is a wheel-like map that will show you where the constellations are; everything hinges on being able to find the constellation, the books take over from there. Sky and Telescope (see the link to Sue French’s book) sells these but I’m sure you can get one in the UK cheaper. For astro-stuff in the UK try scastro (link below).

To sum up, you can see many many things with your telescope and it is a recommended beginner’s instrument (often discussed on astromart.com, which is a great resource, costs $12 to join; they have a “beginner’s” discussion group, and you can also buy used equipment on astromart). Many people never buy MORE than a five inch telescope, they just buy FANCIER (very expensive Takahashi refractors, for example). The Orion Nebula (M42), the Perseus double cluster (NGC 869 & 864), several dozen open clusters in Cassiopeia, Auriga, Sagittarius, Cygnus, and too much to go into here. Many double stars too.

Also: to help find things you want maximum wide field. That means low magnification, big view, to help you find what you’re looking for. (You can increase the magnification after you find it). The “comes with” eyepieces on your scope won’t do maximum field of view. Call your vendor and ask for an inexpensive 32mm 1.25″ plossl, or go on Astromart and buy one used. We’re talking U.S. $30 to $50. This need not be a quality eyepiece but quality can always help–when you’re feeling flush the U.S. $300 24mm Pan Optic is a nice alternative….costs more than your scope!! (this biz is all about accessories) For best views your scope will need to be COLLIMATED, your instructions probably tell you how to do it but you’ll need to have a real astronomy discussion group, not Yahoo questions, to get detailed help. Try this group for coaching:

Posted by gn, on February 8th, 2009, at 4:36 am. #.