Through my telescope, why does Mars always look blurry, when Saturn can look so much clearer?
Bored_and_no_justbored asked:
I’ve had my telescope for a month now and when I point it (200x mag) at Mars and I see a red blurry object, then I point my telescope at saturn and it looks really sharp and you can tell it’s 3D, and see the rings perfectly and stuff. Why is this? Why such a big difference between the two?
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I’ve had my telescope for a month now and when I point it (200x mag) at Mars and I see a red blurry object, then I point my telescope at saturn and it looks really sharp and you can tell it’s 3D, and see the rings perfectly and stuff. Why is this? Why such a big difference between the two?
March 1st, 2009 at 5:25 am
Perhaps because of the martian atmosphere catching the light from the sun more effectively than saturns?
March 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
could it couse saturn is coupld of hundred time larger then
mars?
hmm what i think?:)
snooz little bunny
March 6th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Mars isn’t a good target right now. It’s surface detail isn’t very clear, and it’s past it’s closest point to us, which wasn’t very close this time anyway.
I just gave this advice in another answer. When looking at objects, begin with a low power eyepiece, and observe for a while to see what you can pick out. Then go to higher magnifications in steps. That way, instead of being disappointed that you can’t instantly see the Mars Rovers at 200X, you’ll still be able to pick out details that you couldn’t see at low mags.
Make sure that you’re letting your scope cool before using it. What type is it?
March 7th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Solar distortion
March 9th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Saturn has much more high contrast detail than Mars. It’s farther away, so that everything seems sharper, and there’s the shadow of the rings on the globe and vice versa, all high contrast. With Mars, the detail is very low contrast, blurred by Mars’ atmosphere. It takes a large aperture and a trained eye to begin to resolve detail on Mars.