How can I find the planets through my telescope?

On Thu, 23 Dec 1999 you wrote:

> I can not seem to find any planets at night threw my telescope. I have a star
> map that says what constalation the planets are in but i still cant find
> them, please give me some tips

Hello,

First, it helps to locate planets with your own eye. Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all easily visible to your eye. Venus,
Jupiter and Saturn are the easiest, because they are very bright.
Magazines such as Sky and Telescope (www.skypub.com) and Astronomy
(www.astronomy.com) publish monthly charts showing the locations of
planets.

Once you have found the planet you want to see with your eye, try
eyeballing the telescope into allignment with the planet. You can try
squinting and using the edge of the telescope as a pointer, and point the
telescope. If you have a finder scope (a sight mounted on the side of the
telescope), the planet should then be in the field of view. Then, center
the planet in the finderscope, and look through the main eyepiece. After
adjusting the focus (and, more than likely, bumping the telescope off of
the planet a few times), the planet should be visible.

The most important thing is patience. It will take a while to get used to
the telescope and learn how to point it. So don't be discouraged, and
after a while, finding planets will be easy!

There is a page from Sky and Telescope with more detailed suggestions for
using a telescope. The address is:
http://www.skypub.com/tips/telescopes/using.html

Currently, Jupiter is the brightest object in the evening sky, and Venus
is very bright in the sky just before dawn. Try finding these! The moon
is also a good target for practice. But please, NEVER try and find the
sun with your telescope! Even a brief glimpse will ruin your eyesight.

Thanks for writing, and good luck with your telescope!

Sincerely,
Kurtis Williams

Back to the Ask An Astronomer page.