What's can be seen well with 4.5" f/8 scope

[seanhogge]

A family member has a 4.5" refracting scope. f/8. It's a Meade DS-114. I'm going to borrow it.

I was just wondering what would be possible to view, being completely new to astronomical observation and optic science. Is this more suited to deep sky or planetary observation?

I'm sure there are threads that have already discussed this, but I can't find a good query string to return it. If anyone has a handy link to a thread or site that might help me learn what to start looking for, that would be just fine.

Thanks in advance!

[aurora]

A little of both. For a refractor, that's a pretty good size (110mm?), and would gather enough light to allow you to find most of the Messier objects under reasonable skies (moderate to low light pollution).

You can also look at planets, of course. f/8 is not ideal for that, you will likely see some purple fringing on bright objects like Jupiter, but it should be OK.

Give it a try!

[seanhogge]

Yeah, it's 114mm. Just looking at Jupiter with whatever low magnification eyepiece revealed Ganymede and Co, though no details of Jupiter, which made me wonder if eyepieces would even show me more at all.

Thanks for the tip! I guess I just need to play with magnification.

[aurora]

Was Jupiter low on the horizon when you looked at it?

If you wait until Jupiter is near its highest point (straight south for those in the Northern Hemisphere) then you should be able to see at least two cloud belts across it.

With the low mag eyepiece, you should be able to readily see brighter deep sky objects, globulars like M13 and M92, or planetariy nebula like the Ring and the Dumbbell.

[seanhogge]

It was midway, so I only got a little white pinhead with four pinpricks alongside. It's good to know some features will be discernible with great magnification. I assume Saturn might be just barely distinguishable, as well.

I have yet to try any deep sky objects, so that'll be next on the list once I have the eyepieces.

[Mr Q]

Seanhogg - I believe that scope is a reflector, not a refractor. In any case, you should be able to see many deep space objects down to 12th magnitude or fainter in a very dark sky location. A friend of mine had the same scope and from moderately light polluted skies, he was able to see many DSOs and fairly good detail on Jupiter and Saturn.

Mr Q

[Veeger]

Yeah, I thought the DS-114 was a reflector, not refractor. One of the keys to good seeing in a telescope, is the darkness of the sky and clarity of the atmosphere. It is very helpful to find a good site. If you can see the milkyway at night without a telescope or binoculars, the Meade should perform near theoretical limits and many dimmer objects should be within reach, including some galaxies and planetary nebula.

If your viewing location is not optimal, it should still be excellent for double stars, globular clusters, open clusters, and bright nebulae.

[Moonhawk]

I had a 4.5inch newtonian for a long while. All 110 Messier DSO's should be within reach of it given suitably dark skies (afterall Messier found them all using a 4 inch scope) as well as some NGC objects as well. Mercury, Venus will show phases, and detail should be visible on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.