How well can you see the planets through a telescope?

Question

I was at the Miami planetarium last weekend and wanted to see the planets... every first Friday of the month they open the observatory.... there were too many clouds this time, but how well can I expect to see the planets? Will I be able to tell what I'm looking at?

Answer 1

Not as well as you would expect. I went to an observatory and the planets look like small balls of light. You might be able to see some color but nothing like you see in magazines.

Answer 2

Yes you can see planets through a telescope. In fact you can see both Jupiter and Mars tonight in the early evening. And after about 10 pm, you can see Saturn. These 3 planets can be seen with your eyes alone or through binoculars and/ or a telescope. Both binoculars and a telescope will show the Galilean moons of Jupiter. These are the four largest moons. You need at least 30 power to see the rings of Saturn which means a telescope. Uranus is just barely visible to the unaided eye in a dark location, Neptune pretty much requires a telescope though some people claim to have seen Neptune with binoculars, and Pluto requires a fairly large telescope one with a 10 inch aperature or more. Two nights ago I spotted Mercury in the evening twilight, Mercury never gets far from the sun and is not very prominent. Venus is currently too close to the sun to see. Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon when it is visible.

Answer 3

In the telescopes at the Weintraub Observatory at the planetarium, the planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn anyway, should look like in a photograph.

The quality of the image will vary depending on the atmospheric conditions though.

Answer 4

With a good quality telescope
You should be able to see:

Mercury: A dot, not much surface detail at all

Venus: No surface detail but the phases

Mars: Make out the redness, and maybe the darker marks and possibly ice caps during ideal viewing conditions

Jupiter: Its for brightest moons, some belts and possibly the great red spot

Saturn: The rings, maybe the cassini division, and possibly a few belts, maybe its brightest Moon, Titan

Uranus: A blue blob, a moon if you are really lucky

Neptune: A blue blob if you are lucky

Pluto: Although not a planet if you are under very dark skies, with a very good scope, maybe a tiny dot.

Please note, that that for the last 3 panets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, these predictions are if you use a high quality scope under dark skies during ideal viewing conditions.

Answer 5

I recently bought a "nicer" telescope (about $200) digital with auto calibration, etc. I bought it because the magnification was supposed to see Saturn and the rings of Saturn. However, the last time I was able to see Saturn, the wind of my telescope wouldn't allow me to see it. The slightest bump caused my telescope to view hundreds of miles away from Saturn and caused me to have to recalibrate again and again. After long, it wasn't worth it. However, seeing the moon, because it's bigger/closer to us, was awesome and some really great detailing.
For planets, not so nice. Sorry.
However, if you are able to get into an observatory, you may have been magnification and stability to see planets better.

Answer 6

The bigger the telescope, the more detail you can see. I purchased a 600 dollar scope and saw all the planets, I was able to tell them apart, but you should already know which one your looking for, get a astronomy magazine from your corner store.

Answer 7

Sure with something as mall as an eight inch scope you'll get a very good view of Jupiter and Satufrn.