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Solar system completed


GavStar

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Another great night - summer observing is a lot of fun.

I took my Tak FC100DF out with the AZ GTi and the goto was working very well. So well in fact I decided to put in as targets Uranus and Neptune which were the only planets I hadn't seen before. At 150x both were small but quite clearly disk like and non stellar with a hint of blue in Neptune. Nice to get them and complete the solar system! 

Several other targets seen nicely tonight including the Veil, M13 (very satisfying at 150x), M31 with good extension (with M32 and M110 clearly visible), Bode's Nebula, Caroline's Rose and eta cas.

The Tak and AZ-GTi are a lovely combo.

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Well done. :) I saw Uranus and Neptune last night and managed to be able to push the magnification to 200x with my C8 and 10mm Tele Vue Delos EP. Also managed a second look at the asteroid Iris too after observing it about 4 nights ago too. Hoping for clear skies again tonight.

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7 hours ago, GavStar said:

Another great night - summer observing is a lot of fun.

I took my Tak FC100DF out with the AZ GTi and the goto was working very well. So well in fact I decided to put in as targets Uranus and Neptune which were the only planets I hadn't seen before. At 150x both were small but quite clearly disk like and non stellar with a hint of blue in Neptune. Nice to get them and complete the solar system! 

Several other targets seen nicely tonight including the Veil, M13 (very satisfying at 150x), M31 with good extension (with M32 and M110 clearly visible), Bode's Nebula, Caroline's Rose and eta cas.

The Tak and AZ-GTi are a lovely combo.

Good job, Gav - especially detecting a hint of colour in Neptune!

Doug.

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Good stuff Gavin.

I think Neptune and Uranus are good examples of how people see colours very differently. To me Neptune is a nice blue colour, whilst Uranus is a greyish green.

The AZGTI is a great little mount!

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11 minutes ago, Stu said:

Good stuff Gavin.

I think Neptune and Uranus are good examples of how people see colours very differently. To me Neptune is a nice blue colour, whilst Uranus is a greyish green.

The AZGTI is a great little mount!

Thinking about it, Uranus did have a greyish light green/yellow tint to it but not as clear a colour as Neptune which was definitely blue

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15 minutes ago, triton1 said:

I know it's been demoted but anyone seen Pluto?

My brother who has just recently started out in astronomy told me that several days ago that he'd seen Pluto in his Celestron 5" SCT wifi scope he has. Been very sceptical of this claim, he then told me that it was quite easy to see at magnitude 5 or so. He was a little downcast when it told him you had to add on about another 10 magnitudes onto that nearly to be able to see Pluto. Not sure what he actually was looking at, but it certainly wasn't Pluto. Hehe! 

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4 minutes ago, triton1 said:

That's the trouble your goto will get Pluto in its fov but how do you know which point of light is Puto.

If you can see it at all at mag 14.2, do a comparison between what's in your FOV and what is shown on Stellarium.  That's how I pin down anything I'm not certain of!  (Having Stellarium on a laptop in the shed is a great aid - on night view, plus a red acetate sheet.)

Doug.

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Very nice report Gavin and congrats on Nepune and Uranus :icon_biggrin:

I can get down to around mag 15 near the zenith so Pluto might be possible with my 12" scope if the atmospheric extinction of it's lower altitude does not take too much of a toll. It would have to be sketched star fields over a number of nights though, to be sure that the tiny speck was the right tiny speck :rolleyes2:

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Great report Gavin! Now you're done with the planets you can move on to the several hundred thousand asteroids ;)

5 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

If you can see it at all at mag 14.2, do a comparison between what's in your FOV and what is shown on Stellarium.  That's how I pin down anything I'm not certain of!  (Having Stellarium on a laptop in the shed is a great aid - on night view, plus a red acetate sheet.)

Doug.

The Stellarium catalogue of stars isn't exhaustive - it's definitely missing a few mag 14 stars, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's missing more near the centre of the Milky Way where Pluto is. So you might find more than one object that could be Pluto! Images of the field (eg DSS) are the way to go if you don't want missing stars.

I've never tried Pluto; its magnitude suggests it should be within reach of the 12", but there's a lot of light pollution low in the south.

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I have observed Pluto from a reasonably dark site in North Wales (Llyn Brenig).  It was through an 18" dobsonian on a very clear late summer night.

It is really good to try and see some of the brighter asteriods.  You can check movement, assuming that you get a couple of clear nights close together.

I found it quite enlightening as the full menagerie of solar system objects becomes more 'real'.

Cheers

Paul

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I was really disappointed when Pluto got downgraded since as a kid I loved reading about all nine planets. It will always remain a planet for me - apart from when I'm making statements about completing the solar system ?

I think Pluto will remain a missing object for me since i think 160mm will be my maximum scope size.

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