Uranus 21/8/2014

[FarSide]

First decent image of Uranus this year so far. Sadly, little or no surface detail appears to be apparent. Seeing conditions were not great and a lack of a ADC may be an issue. Enjoyed the challenge, though not the surprisingly chilly summer morning.

[Ouroboros]

Nice one. It's a lovely blue isn't it? What telescope?

[FarSide]

I have a C11 280mm SCT, Ouroboros! And yes a lovely blue, sadly little surface detail!

[Ouroboros]

Thanks. Are surface detail visible from earth with amateur equipment?

[FarSide]

Yes surface details are visible through larger apertures - 10" and above, i'd say. You also need to have correct filters particularly a Baader IR685 filter which allows you to see much further into the surface details and lastly excellent seeing - Uranus never shows it's surface details under anything less than excellent seeing conditions. 

[FarSide]

Just to amends: when i said surface detail i did mean top-layer cloud structure! Yes actual surface detail would be impossible to image!

[Pete Presland]

very nicely caught and a nice addition to the planetary imaging collection, it would stunning to see surface detail!

[bobmoss]

Very nice. I really need to get organised and put Uranus onto my observing list.

[chiltonstar]

Nicely done! I always think that Uranus looks three-dimensional, like a little blue ball against the starry background.

Chris

[szymon]

Very nice indeed!

[FarSide]

Thanks, fellas.

[NorrinRadd]

Really nice capture very impressive and terrific colour :-)

[Grotemobile]

That is one hell of a picture.

Gives us some idear, of what

we can see, at 200x.

Steve

[Scosmico]

Have you tried capture the moons?

[FarSide]

Hi Steven - essentially not much. There seems to be a slight brightening at the polar north at 4 o'clock but that is about it. Next week i will be using at 685nm longpass to try and squeeze some details out from the disc, but to get any details from the disc you need a very steady, transparent night - uranus is the hardest of all the gas giants to resolve any details from. It requires the perfect conditions.