All the major planets in one night?

[kerrylewis]

I note that we are into a period when it will be possible (in theory and cloud permitting) to see all the major planets in one night. I have managed this before but the weather forecast does not look good this time.

Venus, Neptune and Uranus  are visible in the evenings, Jupiter most of the night and Mars, Saturn and Mercury before dawn.

Good luck!

Kerry 

[Astralstroll]

Now that would be a good night/early mornings worth of viewing! Just checked the forecast and it's not looking good for at least a week here :-(

Dave.

[JamesF]

Don't think I've ever managed all of them in one night.  Mostly because I struggle at getting up in the morning

James

[mjpfc]

I saw them all last weekend before the clouds rolled over for the week.

The only one I had to be quick with is Neptune, as it is getting lower at Sunset now so its the

one to start with, for all the others there is no rush. 

Saw Jupiter, Mars. Mercury and Saturn this morning (too cloudy until late yesterday eve). Saturn is now

well above Mercury which is heading to the Horizon but still reasonably high before the Sun interferes.

Best of luck with the weather

Mick.

[Special K]

Thats a good point, Kerry, and entirely feasible even with times for napping in between!

[kerrylewis]

Well- I managed the morning batch. Beautiful dawn with a very thin crescent moon embracing the earthshine and pointing to nearby Saturn and then Mercury rising in the brightening sky between the chimney pots with Jupiter and Mars visible too. A pity Ison wasn't there to complete the picture but I did clearly see Lovejoy with a hint of a tail through the bins. Will it be clear this evening to complete the set? Not according to the forecast - but that doesn't detract from a lovely dawn.

[mjpfc]

Nice one kerry,

too much cloud here this morning so I watched Ison leave Lasco fov, and then Collimated my newt

and ate porridge at the same time.

(I will be auditioning for Britains got Talent later).

Mick

[Kirscovitch]

Saturn sits so low on the horizon now. When will we be able to get a good look at it?

[kerrylewis]

Hello Matt

Saturn will get better from now until opposition next May so there will be good observing times to come!

Kerry

[kerrylewis]

Did it! Viewed Venus, Neptune and Uranus this evening to complete the collection. Very satisfying somehow

[Special K]

Wow Kerry, how'd you manage that?!! I'm about 50 miles away with no skies to show all darn day or night! It was clear here about 10pm last night but i was too chilled from the dawn session to contemplate going into the garden. Anyhoo, I'm glad you managed it. Quite a nice project to undertake; you must be very pleased!

[kerrylewis]

It was clear from sunset until about 7.00 and then (and now) wall to wall cloud. So I managed them all in one day if not one night. Strangely chuffed by my little challenge!

[JamesF]

It was clear from sunset until about 7.00 and then (and now) wall to wall cloud. So I managed them all in one day if not one night. Strangely chuffed by my little challenge!

Night, day, it's only that the Sun is in a different direction.  If you can see them all in a single 24 hour period I reckon that counts

James

[Special K]

Took on the challenge, Kerry, and was doing really good as at 10pm last night.  Had bagged them up through Jupiter and then retired for the evening to arise in the morning and finish the job with bino's.  Sadly, the cloud and mist had settled in, so missed out this time.  What I did see last night was very interesting:  the crescent Venus was fabulous!  Very poor seeing as I hadn't the time to cool the scope and it was very low to the horizon before I ran out of time.  I was very pleased with the view regardless, and compared with my view of the same in the summer, it was much crisper.  If the scope had been cooled, it would have been amazing!  I'm also stunned by the point at which it sets compared with the summer.  Huge difference.

I left Neptune quite late and was struggling with it.   The sky seemed to be deteriorating off to the West and was even a little uncertain once I landed on it. 

Uranus looked pretty good compared with my previous viewing, and there was no trouble figuring out where Jupiter was! 

Shame about the second half of the session, though I had a good luck at the predawn sky which was beautifully orange, red, and white. 

[kerrylewis]

Better luck next time Rick. I'll have to check how long the 'window' is open.

I also got a very clear view of Venus the other night. It is a bit higher than it was and with a polarising filter to reduce the glare, the crescent was very crisp

[Special K]

Tough cloud cover round here but managed to plan a better view of Venus. Got a nice sharp view this evening after plenty of cooling time beforehand. Very remarkable how bright it is given it is only about 33% illuminated.

Absolutely no chance of getting the rest in this cloud!

[YouCannotBeSirius]

I find it difficult to locate Uranus and Neptune with my telescope, are they viewable with a 5.1" reflector and 20mm lens?

Does anyone have any tips for locating them? As a couple of times I thought I found them but I've never been totally sure it was actually them I was looking at.

I was lucky enough to see the Jupiter, Mercury, Venus triple conjunction earlier this year with 10x50 binoculars which was wonderful.

[JamesF]

Uranus should definitely be possible I'd have thought.  Neptune is tough with smaller scopes.  I found it with my 127 Mak (5" therefore) and could only be sure I was looking at Neptune by a process of elimination.  You don't say what focal length your scope is, but you may need a fair bit of magnification to be able to pick out Neptune.

James

[YouCannotBeSirius]

Thank you for the help. The focal length is 650 (f5). I'd be happy to get a fairly decent view of Uranus for now. I have 6.5mm EP and 3x Barlow lens on the way, if those things would help view Uranus at least?

I'm thinking locating it with my 10x50 binoculars first would help, too.

[JamesF]

You might find that a small blue-green blob is the best you can manage for Uranus with your scope.  I don't know if that counts as "decent"

Looks like it should be a good early-evening target at the moment though, about ten degrees (the width of your clenched fist at arms length) south and slightly east (left) of Algenib in the bottom left of the square of Pegasus.

James

[YouCannotBeSirius]

For now (getting to grips with my first telescope) I'd be happy with that view.

Thank you for the advice regarding locating it too, that's really helpful as I'd been struggling. I shall be looking out for it over the next few nights, weather permitting.