From: "Bob May" 
To: "atmlist" 
Reply-To: "Bob May" 


The 6" says that you will be able to get about a max magnification of
about 300x and the F/5 (30" focal length) says that you will need a
0.1" (2.5mm) EP to do that.  With an EP of that short a FL, you aren't
going to be getting the best views and the short FL of the scope is the
problem.  I'll suspect that you can barely see the polar caps as a
whitening of the top and bottom of Mars with such a setup.
Your problem isn't aperture so much as the short focal length of the scope.
6" is quite adequate to see some of the detail but the detail won't
come out until you have a decent focal length to be able to use a decent
sized eyepiece to see the planet.
Bob May
http://nav.to/bobmay
bobmay{at}nethere.com
NEW! http://bobmay.astronomy.net

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