5 Visible Planet Month

Having recently moved to Redding area now living where there are no streetlights, I recently bought a telescope.

Had no idea what you could see even with naked eye when no city lights. From below web site:

"What do we mean by visible planet? By visible planet, we mean any solar system planet that is easily visible without an optical aid and that has been watched by our ancestors since time immemorial. In their outward order from the sun, the five visible planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These planets are visible in our sky because their disks reflect sunlight, and these relatively nearby worlds tend to shine with a steadier light than the distant, twinkling stars. They tend to be bright! You can spot them, and come to know them as faithful friends, if you try".

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

Anyone into astronomy?

Bryan

 

  20" Obsession, 10" Meade SCT, 5" Orion ST120,  Orion ST80 (Used for telephoto lens on camera while birding) binocular mount,   Since I was 9 been looking the stars & planets, and nebula's.
  My favorite part of the sky  is directly due south.  The Milky Way terminates at the horizon due south, and within the milky way at that point , there are many things to see.  Sagittarius,  (The "Tea pot") contains many star fields, and a few globular clusters M17, M22 (My fav) Take some binoculars, a lounge chair and just glass that whole region of the sky, you'll be amazed at what will appear in the binoculars!
  Oh when you follow the Milky Way down to the horizon, your looking at the center of our galaxy!
What telescope did you get?
 

Meade Brass Altazimuth Refracting Telescope  Model 314, 80 mm, 25mm eyepiece, found it at an antiques store.

Hadn't really researched telescopes to much, bought on spur of the moment because it looks nice being all brass on original wood tripod with control cables, my wife actually let's me leave it sitting in the living room, good conversation piece, thought I would only be looking terrestrial with it but now hooked on checking out the moon, planets and stars.   Got some great views of Venus last month just as sun was coming up.

I am looking into some additional eyepieces, any recommendations, thought I would start with a Barlow 2X plus a 40mm and 12mm?

 

  A 2X Barlow  will really only be useful when your looking at the moon, due to it will eat up a lot of light!  An 80mm objective isn't going to collect that much to start.  Also you'll notice with using the Barlow that objects in the eyepiece will travel across the field of view (FOV) within the eye piece a lot quicker.
  I'd say your best views of everything will be with either the 25mm and or the 40mm  The lower number for your eyepiece will give a higher magnification overall.  The magnification can be calculated by taking the focal length of the scope your scope is 900mm, then divide the eyepiece mm  so 900mm/25mm=36X or 900mm/40mm=22.5X  900mm/12mm=75X
  Your bigger eye pieces will be a lower power, but will allow more light to pass.  Won't be an issue when you view the moon. However for other objects in the sky, it will be a factor.
  Do you have a cover the front opening?  It will help keep the lens clean.
MY 20" Obsession, it's focal length is around 2500 mm and my 40mm (2") eyepiece is my goto eyepiece at 62.5X it has wonderful views of anything I point it at!
  As for eyepieces,  the 2 you listed are good starting points.  36mm would also be good?

If you never looked through night vision. You will be amazed exactly what the sky looks like.

  A 2X Barlow  will really only be useful when your looking at the moon, due to it will eat up a lot of light!  An 80mm objective isn't going to collect that much to start.  Also you'll notice with using the Barlow that objects in the eyepiece will travel across the field of view (FOV) within the eye piece a lot quicker.
  I'd say your best views of everything will be with either the 25mm and or the 40mm  The lower number for your eyepiece will give a higher magnification overall.  The magnification can be calculated by taking the focal length of the scope your scope is 900mm, then divide the eyepiece mm  so 900mm/25mm=36X or 900mm/40mm=22.5X  900mm/12mm=75X
  Your bigger eye pieces will be a lower power, but will allow more light to pass.  Won't be an issue when you view the moon. However for other objects in the sky, it will be a factor.
  Do you have a cover the front opening?  It will help keep the lens clean.
MY 20" Obsession, it's focal length is around 2500 mm and my 40mm (2") eyepiece is my goto eyepiece at 62.5X it has wonderful views of anything I point it at!
  As for eyepieces,  the 2 you listed are good starting points.  36mm would also be good?

Thanks for the info, the telescope did come with a cover. I will be looking for better telescope for stars/planets soon. Also looking at different eyepieces for my Meade, seem to be some reasonable prices for 1.25", have seen some kits for less then $100.