Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

Neptune and Uranus.


Recommended Posts

We caught the blue planet in Aquarius, even at x100, it showed as a small blue dot in a duo of background stars. We then boosted the mag to x400 and got a pleasant blue disc.

Then onto Uranus in Pisces, under the square of Pegasus, it appeared as a small greenish dot, we ended up with a disc. The seeing conditions at about 1-2am were quite good, with no dew and no air movements.

Neither myself or LeeB had seen these before and the GOTO helped, both being above the haze and pollution level of suburbia.

We celebrated with a drink and Doritos with melted cheese on......class act.

It was good to get the discs .

Nick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 28
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Yo, thanks! We tried for Pluto, got a field of view ,but no idea which speck it could be !

If you realize the distances involved;

Neptune;4500 million kms ( 30.1 a.u)

Uranus;2872 million kms ( 19.2 a.u )

then perhaps we should have added salsa dip!

Nick.

0

Link to comment
Share on other sites

then perhaps we should have added salsa dip!

You mean you didnt have salsa dip!!! Nick...Nick...Nick...tut, tut , tut!, would have thought that would be a given considereing you already had the Dorito's and cheese... *sigh*....haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm afraid that I was guest at the LeeB gaff. There was little choice of fare, but at about 1.30am Mrs.LeeB did prepare Doritos and cold white wine.

Thus replete guest and tribe happily settled to sticking the laser pointer on and doing a light show at x8 tracking.By 3am the Sun was lighting up and called an end.

Nick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good work on Neptune and Uranus. I find that at 100x I can barely make out Neptube is a disk, and with Uranus even lower. I have to say I prefer Uranus, as the colour is more striking. Having said that, I did spot Triton 3 days ago, whereas I haven't really tried moon hunting with Uranus. As for Pluto, I have seen it. The trick is to plan when to look for it. I looked when it was between two fairly prominent stars just west of M25, and I wouldn't say it was easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it did help! To be honest, I'm not too sure why these two don't get more attention, as I find them to be awesome to observe!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Id love to see them, but I think I'd need to get the GOTO set up for that first. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are simple enough not to set up the scope first, but I reckon Uranus/Neptue and certainly Pluto Id need some assistance.

As ive only had the scope since April Ive only calibrated it a couple of times and dont fancy re reading the instructions in the dark. I need to have a light practice first a few more times so its easy to do in the dark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We found these with the GOTO, it would have been a long search eliminating background stars as fairly high magnification detailed the colour of the discs.

It was lovely to see these, next time we'll try a manual search.

Nick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

A bit late to the post, but I have just been reading about how to find these too and when I get back home (currently working away) I will have to give it a go.

Having a 120mm refractor, I hope I will be able to see something. It doesn't have to be a disc, just the colours would be good enough for me.

Cheers

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Nice report. I got them years back when I first got my C8. As I said at the time, the solar system seemed bigger to me afterwards. Did you have the same feeling.

I saw both recently with my 6" dob. would be good to get the 16" on them too and hunt moons. the crazy thing about our solar system is that the outer planets are really just the start!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last Thursday night, being my first view through the EP since May, I hunted down Uranus by star hopping and guesstimating. My first view of the planet and rewarding, as after a while I got my 'eye' back and could really tell that it was a planet. Now I can finally answer yes to that age old question from the numpties... :)

Sent from my workshop using a tippy tappy keyboard....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

went out for a while tonight with these two in mind. ive just come in after bagging uranus due to clouds.hope to go out again shortly to try neptune. uranus came over as a small disc with a blue tint at x170 in the 8" . at x100 can just make out its not a star and at x48 simply another star. not a hope of any detail or moons but still a nice find .

right off out for neptune.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.