60mm Refractor Jupiters Belts

[hound9_4]

I have read in different places that I should be able to see Jupiter's belts with a 60mm refractor.

My wife purchased a 60mm refractor used, as a gift for me. When viewing Jupiter, all I see is a white disk. I see three dots (moons) also. I have tried 24mm, 12.5mm and 4mm eyepieces & tried them in combination with 2 different barlow lenses, also.

Q: 60mm refractor overstated capability or is the telescope just lousy If the Tasco 40-060578 Luminova is lousy, can replacing anything improve it's performance: the aperture or star diagonal or other eyepieces Thanks

[samk]

Hi there, i have also recently started out in astronomy. I started with a 60mm tasco 58t refractor, almost identical to yours i think but a bit older. I found that the 60mm tasco was not up to the job when it came to gathering the light required for more detail. Ive upgraded to a sky watcher 8 inch dob and i can now see more details on the planets and deep space objects. Replacing eye pieces can improve things but I would suggest a bigger scope, dobs in my opinion are great for beginners, just point and look basically, no complicated eq mount or drive to fathom out. Your telescope is not lousy its just not the biggest aperture so your not getting the views you want. Hope this helps.

[rocket]

that's what they call dept store telescopesvery lightly coated lensplastic EP,s and focuseryoull see alot of tasco and meades in this category at stores like walmart and kmartbest to stay away from themthats 450X advertised on the boxes is unrealisticas far jup goes with your scopeit will look white with probably 2 fuzzy bands

[admin]

Bigger telescope give you more light to get details! 6" F 8 is 1200 mm and 10" F4.7 is almost 1200mm. Use 10mm eyepiece would be 120 power. 6" and 10" that Jupiter size is about the same but 10" give you more details as belts, colors and clearer! Dobsonian is the best telescope for low cost! Orion 4.5" and 6" dobsonian is good telescope for new astronomers. I can see Jupiter's belts on my 10" as low as around 40 power. Save your money for a better telescope would be last for lifetime!

[Carlos_dfc]

I have an old 60mm Tasco Luminova refractor in the back of a cupboard.
I'm gonna dig it out, and next clear night, will experiment.

I haven't looked through a scope that small for years, but I have seen Jupiter's cloud bands with a 90mm Maksutov scope, at 50x, recently - and I know someone who says he can see cloud bands with a 70mm refractor.

I remember that Jupiter was no more than a white disk through my old 60mm Tasco years ago when I started out, but that was using the poor eyepieces supplied with it.
Next clear night I'm gonna experiment with the old 60mm, and some of the better eyepieces I now own.

I'll report back with my findings

[Carlos_dfc]

Well I've just tried out that old Tasco, on Jupiter - and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Using the one original eyepiece that I could find - the plastic 12.5mm Huygenian that came supplied with the scope (64x) - and the original diagonal that came supplied - Jupiter was indeed a washed out cream-coloured disk.

Swapping for a better diagonal (1.25" SkyWatcher diag) did improve things a bit - I was able to get a sharper cream disk, the 4 moons (2 either side tonight) did come to a sharper focus - and just a hint of the two main cloud belts was beginning to show.
Then I popped in a SkyWatcher 25mm plossl eyepiece (32x), and behold..... I could see cloud bands quite clearly.
Then tried a 13mm Baader Hyperion eyepiece (62x), and Wow!!
Beautiful clear bright and sharp view - the 60mm f/800 objective in the Tasco Luminova is obviously far better quality than the eyepieces they supply.
I also tried a 5.7mm Antares W70 eyepiece (140x) and still got a quite nice, and reasonably sharp view, even though 140x is at the limit of a 60mm objective's capabilities.
Pushed yet further with a 4mm Sirius plossl (200x) and now the image started to break down - couldn't get it properly sharp, and the contrast between cloud band colours was also degrading.

So in answer to the original question.....
Jupiter cloud bands, with a cheap 60mm refractor??

Yes it's possible, especially with better accessories (diagonal and eyepieces) - and you can even get some properly NICE views if you use an eyepiece that costs almost as much as the telescope itself (the 13mm Hyperion)
Oh, and don't try to push the magnification too high.