I'm a new telescope user, still trying to get my telescope to work properly.
I have recently tried to look at Jupiter and Saturn from my own telescope and then compared with a friend's telescope. The friend's scope shows a much better picture, and maybe you can help me to figure out what I'm missing.
My telescope:
Celestron Starsense Explorer LT 127AZ
D = 127, F = 1000
Eyepieces: 25mm, 10mm, Barlow 2x
Friend's telescope:
Meade Infinity 90
D = 90, F = 600
Eyepieces: 26mm, 6.3mm
Viewing Jupiter, my friend's Meade with the 6.3 eyepiece showed a much better picture: focused, clear such that stripes are visible, in colours that seems true.
My telescope, on the other hand, shows Jupiter as a white circle (no stripes), smaller and harder to focus on.
Is it possible I'm not using the right eyepiece?
I know that the calculation of the optimal eyepiece is: F/(2*D), which in my case yields 1000/(2*127)=4mm. If I use the Barlow 2x with the 10mm eyepiece, I get the equivalent of 5mm, as I understand it. Should I expect a big difference between this 10mm+Barlow2x and an actual 4mm eyepiece (without Barlow)?
Also worth mentioning that I used my Celestron at 55⁰ latitude, and my friend's Meade at 32⁰. Can that make a big difference? Hard to believe that a ø127 telescope cannot get a proper view of Jupiter from the north as well...
If anyone has any ideas, I'll be happy to try them. Thank you in advance!