equipment, seeing or what?

Hey all, question on viewing Jupiter, we have 2 scopes, both with good optics. A 6 inch f5 reflector, and a meade 90etx, I never get to see much detail on Juptiter BUT see a lot on Saturn. One night a couple years ago, the seeing was excellent, in our 6 inch, I was at about 280x, Saturn was tack sharp, showed an olive colored cap, a dusky band, even glimped the Encke divsion and the C ring. BUT Jupiter still only showed two major band and I could barely detect minor bands. What scope does it take to really see detail on Jupiter? It looked best this year in our etx at about 150x. But still not like the impression I get from others veiws. Thanks! Ron

Ron,
I have only been at this a few years, here are a few observations.
I also had an ETX 90. When I made the jump to a Meade 7" Mak the amount of detail I could see on Jupiter went up dramatically. For example, the shadows of the moons as they transit became very clear and distinct black spots against the planet's surface. Also the number of bands I could see easily doubled. On one crystal clear Wisconsin winter night last year the view of Jupiter was breathtaking through the 7".

With my 4" APO refractor I can see almost as many bands but sometimes I feel like I can see more surface detail. The swirls in the clouds come and go with the seeing. After I have been outside observing I have checked some recent photos of the planet and I have been able to confirm what I have seen through the EP. The refractor excels in the area of contrast so I would concur with the other post that contrast is critical to seeing details on Jupiter. Also, it does take awhile to train you eye and body to work with your scope.

I find that some nights Jupiter looks great and other nights Saturn looks better. I have no explanation or theory for this. It is probably my bad luck. I start looking at both and then spend time with the planet that looks better.

When Mars was close I had both the ETX 90 and the 7" Mak at the same time. Before the dust storm hit there was some excellent surface detail. Again the 7" showed much, much more detail then the ETX when the planet was viewed side by side. I used 178x for these observations.

I usually view the planets at 100x to 179x. Most often the seeing in my part of the world does not seem to support higher magnifications. On one clear night this winter I went to 262x on Jupiter and Saturn and it held up.

I have not used a reflector in a very long time. I hope these observations offer some assistance.
Best regards, Paul G.

I first began really seeing detail in Jupiter when I purchased a 6" refractor. You would be very happy with an Orion XT8, as it gives all the detail my refractor does at a fraction of the cost. 6" f/5 is not a planetary reflector, as it will have a large central obstruction and most likely will always be slightly miscollimated, which will hurt the fine details in Jupiter. Aperture really isn't everything, contrary to some peoples' opinions. A good quality scope is really what matters, and sadly, many commercial "budget" range scopes don't show Jupiter very well. But the Orion XT8 I looked through gave a great image of Jupiter after I collimated it for its owner.