On my telescope I can't any nebula's, galaxies, star clusters, or planets just stars. Why?

Question

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me. Thanks.

Answer 1

There are a number of reasons why you might not be able to see some objects like that. Here is a list of reasons why...

1) Your telescope may not be powerful enough. There are a bunch of telescopes on the market which are designed to see the moon and not much else.

2) If you live in a city, your chance is worse. Cities produce what is known as "light pollution" in which the lights of the city itself reflect and bounce around in the atmosphere, blurring out some of the dimmer stars and celestial objects.

3) Your elevation on Earth. The higher your elevation the better observing you have. Why? Because you are looking through less of the atmosphere which can distort your view. This is why Hubble is in space... it is free from having to look through the atmosphere.

4) Time of year. Some objects appear in certain locations during the year and then dip below the horizon. Some objects may not even be visible at the time of night you are looking. Like Venus which is the morning star/evening star and can be seen best in the mornings a few hours before sunrise or in the evening a few hours after sunset. Also the position of the object in relation to the sun can make objects appear brighter or dimmer because of how much light is being reflected (I am talking about planets for the most part)

5) Moon pollution. Remember the bit on city light pollution? Well, the moon is a very strong emitter of light pollution too. Nights where the moon is out and is well lit (like at full moon) the light drowns out stars in the rest of the sky.

So knowing all this, what and when is the best time for viewing. It is usually the best time to view at night/early morning at higher elevations away from the city. Avoid ordinary flashlights and use only the red light ones which will help your eyes adjust to the dark and make sure that pesky moon is no where to be seen. Then bring your star chart with you and make sure your telescope is powerful enough to view what you want to see.

It is said that in the best conditions you can see several planets just with a set of binoculars. So get away from the lights and head for the mountains!

Good luck at the star gazing!

Answer 2

One of the things I always tell kids who are mad to get a telescope, is learn the sky first. You need a good knowledge of the sky and skill to use a telescope effectively.

I use binoculars and I can see nebulae and star clusters, especially in the Milky Way band. The advantage with binoculars is that they have a wide field of view, so it is not so difiicult to locate objects. But obviously they don't have the magnification that telescopes have.

You should be able to see nebulae and star clusters if you know where to look. You have probably been looking at Hubble pictures and imagined you would be seeing things like that. Sorry mate, your 4 or 6 inch telescope is going to be a grave disppointment to you if you expect that.

The point is that when you have the knowledge of the sky, even what you see with a small telescope is a wonder. I only had a 40mm draw tube telescope when I was a kid and I saw all those good things because I had been learning the sky since I was 7 years old.

Answer 3

Simple...your not looking in the correct place...I own an astronomy shop and even the smallest telescopes sold in department stores can see at least one of each of these objects (we can see one galaxy, and a couple of different nebula in the northern hemisphere without a telescope...and planets are simple to spot once you know how.) so no matter what telescope you can see them. You just need to point your telescope in the correct place.

Magnification is not the problem unless you have too much of it. As an amateur astronomer I look at lower powers most of the time (under 50X) even when viewing a planet I rarely go over 200X. The thoughts that you need a lot of power to view an object are just not correct. What you need is a lot of light and this is a function of the aperture or how fat the objective lens is.

So my recommendation is go on the Internet to Cartes Du Ceil learn the constellations and then you will find these objects.

Tonight look for the bright star by the moon...it's Jupiter...you will also see it's 4 moons. Use the lowest power eyepiece you have.

Answer 4

Most likely, because you don't know where to look or what to look for. Numerous deep space objects, as well as all the planets except Pluto, can be seen in pretty much any telescope. None of them will look like the Hubble pictures, though, or even pictures taken through a small telescope. This is because the camera can see far more than your eye, by collecting light over a long period of time.

If there's an amateur astronomy club in your area, seek them out. They can help you out in lots of ways. There are also some very good books for beginning stargazers. "Turn Left at Orion" and "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" are two good ones.

I've attached a link to a downloadable beginner's guide with star charts. The things on the charts with M numbers are Messier objects; deep space objects discovered in the 1700s with small telescopes. Use your lowest power eyepiece when you're looking for objects, then switch to a higher power if you want. Magnifications of more than 50x per inch or 2x per mm of aperture are seldom useful.

Early in the evening the area around Sagittarius and Scorpius is a good place to look for deep space objects, specifically star clusters and nebulae. Some of these objects are visible to the naked eye in a good sky, as fuzzy bright spots.

Right after sunset you should be able to see Jupiter. It's the brightest "star" in the sky and is to the southwest if you're in the Northern hemisphere. Low power should show you the disk of the planet and up to four moons around it. Higher power may show some banding on the planet.

Later in the evening, with the help of a star chart. look for the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Hercules Cluster (M13).

Deep space objects are easily washed out by light pollution, so find the darkest place you can. At a minimum, turn off any outside lights you can and find a spot away from any direct lighting. If you live in an urban are, you will find that getting out of town will let you see far more. If you can't see the Milky Way overhead on a moonless summer night, you have considerable light pollution. Galaxies in particular are hard to see under these conditions, although you should still be able to see M31.

A word on telescope quality. It doesn't take great optical quality to see things, but occasionally telescopes get badly out of adjustment. If you can't focus stars high in the sky down to bright points, your telescope needs adjusting. Also, make sure your finder is aligned.

Answer 5

You need to start with easy objects. It is much harder than most people think just to get the telescope pointed at what you want to see. If the telescope is not pointed right at Jupiter, you aren't going to see Jupiter. You will just see whatever random stars are wherever it is you have pointed your telescope. Look at the Moon first. It is really interesting. Trust me on this. If you have different eyepieces, try them all. You will find that the lowest magnification eyepiece will give you the best view. A high power eyepiece will make a dim fuzzy image and narrow field of view, which makes it really hard to get the telescope pointed. Look at Jupiter. It is the bright star high in the southwest early this evening. Even with the lowest power eyepiece you will easily see several of its moons lined up beside it. Depending on how good your telescope is, you may also see some detail on the planet. I have to say that the Moon and Jupiter are pretty much all you are going to see for now. Clusters, nebulae and especially galaxies really need a bigger telescope. You may be able to see a few of the brighter ones, but they will look very dim and disappointing to you, if you can even find them. It is really hard to point a telescope at something you can't see without the telescope. Venus and Saturn are worth looking at with a telescope the size of yours, but they aren't up now. You will be disappointed by Mars when it is up, but it isn't up now anyway. And finally, you cannot see meteors in a telescope. To view meteors, just look for shooting stars with your eyes. Even during a shower, sometimes there aren't many. I once looked for 30 minutes in the middle of a shower without seeing a single meteor. But I have also seen 30 meteors in 30 minutes on one or two occasions. It all depends on luck with meteor showers. Some are good and some are a bust.

Answer 6

What Scott* says. A telescope, even at low power, is looking at a very tiny piece of sky. You can't just point it up in the sky and expect to accidentally see something.

Also, if you don't have one, be sure and buy yourself a 1X finder such as a Telrad or Orion EZ finder. Basically puts a red dot in the sky where the scope is pointing. Makes finding objects much easier. Can be had for $30-40.

Answer 7

Probably your telescope isn't strong enough... I don't know what power of magnification you need before you can start seeing some interesting stuff (besides what's going on in your neighbor's house). You probably also need to consider the quality of the lenses... you get what you pay for: are you using high grade expertly polished glass lenses or cracker-jack box plastic lenses? Even with binoculars, you can start with viewing one of our nearest neighbors, Venus: just after sunset or before sunrise, nicknamed the "Morning Star" it'll be the brightest point in the sky. You might also consider where you are: because of light pollution, the middle of the sahara offers a slightly better viewing experience than downtown Tokyo.

Answer 8

You probably are seeing these things but can't tell what you're looking at because you don't have a powerful telescope. It would be to your advantage to join an astronomy club or group and consult with people that can tell you where to look.

Answer 9

You don't have a strong enough scope probably. What type and size do you have? For every 1/2 inch of aperture that you have you can magnify a maximum of 50X usable...you need a fairly good scope to see any deep sky clusters and that.

Answer 10

Probably because of the power and resolution of your telescope. Most commercial telescopes really don't have the kind of power you are talking about. In order to get that kind of power you need the Hubble. Or an observatory.