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Old 06-May-2004, 03:22 AM
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George George is online now
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio, Tx.
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You might enjoy this basic scope site... here

The key for planet viewing will be lens, or mirror, diameter. You need light gathering and resolution.

116/dia. (in mm) is a general rule for resolution of objects in arc. seconds. Jupiter is about 35 to 45 arc seconds in diameter as a reference.

You can only get reasonably clean magnification in the 50x dia. (inches). So, a 4 inch can go up to 200x (not 600x).

I have an 8" and use my Dad's $800 Zeiss binocs more. My brother and I gave him a $80 gift certificate for his birthday to an outdoor store and he came back with the binocs. I came out pretty good, too.
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