Eyepieces

Saturn imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope with its rings turned nearly edge-on, appearing as a thin bright line across the planet's disc, with two of its moons as bright points at upper left.

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How much telescope do you need to see Saturn's rings?

Saturn reaches opposition on October 4, 2026, which is the best night of the year to point anything at it. Around that date the planet sits opposite the Sun in our sky: closest to Earth for the year, brightest for the year at about magnitude 0.3 (apparent), and above the horizon all night. The question I get every autumn is how much telescope you need to actually see the rings. The answer depends entirely on what you mean by “see.” ...

An amateur astronomer stands beside a large Dobsonian telescope at dusk in the Negev desert, ready for a night of observing.

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Your first two eyepieces: what focal length and exit pupil actually mean

The two most useful eyepieces you can own probably aren’t the two that came in the box, and choosing them takes two numbers, not brand loyalty. Your telescope most likely arrived with a 25mm and a 10mm eyepiece. This piece is about what those millimetres actually do, why the 10mm is so uncomfortable to look through, and which two eyepieces to add first so you cover the sky from wide star fields to the cloud belts on Jupiter. No “best eyepiece” ranking. Just the arithmetic, worked on the scopes beginners actually buy. ...