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Pluto anyone?


mdstuart

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I have never managed to see it visually, but always aim to capture it photographically at least once a year. I'd always wanted to see it since I was a kid decades ago when it was technically still a planet, an almost mythical object on the edge of the solar system completely beyond the capabilities of my limited optical equipment in those days, and I still have a strange fondness for it.

Very tricky indeed these days, at such a southerly declination.

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Pluto is on my list. I have never seen it. Just need the right T/scope I guess.

My first observation of it with follow-up confirmation was May 2010, through a Coulter Odyssey 10". This, from 34 degrees north. Got to be difficult from the UK.

This tool can help you decide theoretical possibilities, but it's more fun to simply try:

http://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

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Well I had good clear mag 5 skies. Not astronomical darkness but perhaps 0.5 below optimum.

The answer is NO I cannot see Pluto. I made a number of detailed sketches of the stars in the area using increasing magnification and averted vision.

On a perfect night I can reach mag 15 overhead with my 14 inch dob. Last night I picked up mag 14.5 stars next to IC 1392 (nice little galaxy by the way) BUT

At the altitude of 18 degrees just above that tree my limiting magnitude was 12.5....So I was nowhere near 14.1!!!

So I need to book a trip to the Canaries with a 20 inch dob...or move over to the dark side of imaging!

It was fun anyway..

Mark

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had a go last night around midnight with the 10" Dob. 29 Sgr just about clears the trees for a couple of hours at this time. I was able to pick out stars around 29 down to about mag 13.1 ish but unable to see Pluto. Will give it another go at some point, sky looked good last night but that doesn't always tell the whole story.

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Interesting stuff Mark and I'd love to see Pluto but I fear it's low altitude would push it beyond my 12" dobs capability. I've seen Supernovae down to mag 13.7 when they are high in the sky but the atmospheric extinction at 18 degrees alt pushes Pluto's apparent magnitude down to around 14.7 or so.

I still might take a look all the same as it's an interesting part of the sky for many other reasons :smiley:

Sometimes it's fun to use star charts and star hopping to know you are looking at the right patch of sky and think "I know you are out there". I've done that with the Horsehead Nebula and been looking right at it on a number of occasions despite not actually being able distinguish it with my eye  :rolleyes2:

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I used a remote telescope (Spain) to image Pluto a couple of weeks back. This might be a good way to find it visually - image it remotely to effectively create an accurate finder chart then pop out to attempt a visual observation.

Of course need a clear sky at both locations - of course you might already have the imaging gear to hand...

Callum

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This might be a good way to find it visually - image it remotely to effectively create an accurate finder chart then pop out to attempt a visual observation.

m

Yes indeed! I found that was a great method - The main problem was distinguishing pluto from the background stars when most charts don't go that deep. At a southern site pluto is just, just visible in a 5" refractor but only with photos do you know where to look - or more to the point where not to look as averted vision was the go :)

all the best

Tim

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I may (big may) have seen it without really knowing it. I got my CPC800 perfectly tracking one day when I knew it would be around, I jaunted backwards and forwards ensuring everything I asked for appeared in the center of the eyepiece and then told it to go to Pluto. As has been mentioned, there is a lot else as well, but I still slightly give myself the opinion I saw it, although never being 100 per cent sure I never logged it. But it's the thought that counts.

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