The hunt for Uranus

[The Lazy Saint]

Hi all, 

Please may l request some advice from the wise,  it is to help me with my hunt for Uranus. My observing skills are coming on nicely, however, l have hit a stumbling block regarding this particular target. l knew it would be a challenge with my limited experience but have now reach the point where an expert hand would help. 

I have been quite methodical in my approach, l first identified Pisces and then 110 Psc. From there, I located the following  group of 4 stars: (just to the right and above the for mentioned star)

Hip 8078A, Hip 8100, Hip 8110A, Hip 8113.

The lowest mag of this group is 9.15 and, as Uranus has a mag of 6.03, l felt confident my serch would be successful but sadly, not so. 

I scanned the area l new to be the location methodically but to no avail ? is there a better method? A better time  to target Uranus? Or should l have more patients and continue with my current method? 

Any help in this matter will be greatly received. 

Best wishes to you all,

The Lazy Saint. 

 

[Knighty2112]

What equipment are you using to try to spot Uranus with? Binoculars or telescope? If the later what scope and EP are you using? 

[MarsG76]

You think that a 6.03 mag object would stand out next to a mag 9 star... I'm sure you were close, the moment you see it, it'll be a solid but tiny greeny disc...

Of course I'm thinking that you're using a telescope. in binoculars the hunt will be some what more difficult, since in binos uranus will look no different to a star.

[Knighty2112]

You were about a degree away from Uranus with the stars you used as guide stars. Uranus is very bright really when viewed in any scope, so as there where no real close bright stars near to in it should stand out quite conspicuously. Image below shows position of Uranus for 12am tonight.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Uranus is almost a naked eye object, and easily visible in binoculars, but I was unable to locate and positively identify it till I bought a 127mm GoTo telescope, which found it in about 30 seconds and made it look non-star-like.

[Buzzard75]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

You were about a degree away from Uranus with the stars you used as guide stars. Uranus is very bright really when viewed in any scope, so as there where no real close bright stars near to in it should stand out quite conspicuously. Image below shows position of Uranus for 12am tonight.

 

 

If you saw it, you would know it. As Knighty said, you were just a bit off. Uranus is pretty obvious once you've got it in your field of view. It will resolve into a very light bluish disc rather than a point of light. It really is a sight to see for the first time. Hope you're able to find it!

Neptune was my bane. It's a hard little blighter to pick out because there were stars in the vicinity with very similar magnitudes when i was looking for it. It's extremely far away so it just looks like a faint star and you really have to push the magnification to get it to resolve.

[JOC]

I've had a look and from darkness tonight its rising E-S at my location and that's my good direction.  I haven't chucked the kit outside for a long while, but I wonder if it's worth trying tomorrow (I'm busy tonight) if I can get the goto working I reckon I stand a chance of seeing it in my Dob.

[Stu]

As said, let us know the kit you are using and we can help a little with a field of view simulation which might help.

[The Lazy Saint]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

What equipment are you using to try to spot Uranus with? Binoculars or telescope? If the later what scope and EP are you using? 

Thank you all for the help/advice, the conditions look good for tonight so l shall be trying again. As for the equipment l am using, l am sure it is up to the job,  it is me with the failings. I am using a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p and have a Baader Hyperion zoom lens. 

The image you have posted White Dwarf is exactly as l found last night, with luck l shall have success tonight and take another step along the learning curve. 

Once again, many thanks to you all. 

Best wishes, 

The Lazy Saint. 

Once

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Uranus is almost a naked eye object, and easily visible in binoculars, but I was unable to locate and positively identify it till I bought a 127mm GoTo telescope, which found it in about 30 seconds and made it look non-star-like.

Goto certainly helps, yes sireee!  

[Knighty2112]

1 minute ago, The Lazy Saint said:

Thank you all for the help/advice, the conditions look good for tonight so l shall be trying again. As for the equipment l am using, l am sure it is up to the job,  it is me with the failings. I am using a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p and have a Baader Hyperion zoom lens. 

The image you have posted White Dwarf is exactly as l found last night, with luck l shall have success tonight and take another step along the learning curve. 

Once again, many thanks to you all. 

Best wishes, 

The Lazy Saint. 

Once

Your 200P should scoop it up nicely.  

[Knighty2112]

Here’s the field of view for your scope with a 25mm and 10mm EP. Shouldn’t take to much travel with a 25mm EP to get to Uranus.

[The Lazy Saint]

Gus, thanks very much for that, that has helped greatly. I shall use that chart tonight and I  have to say l am much more confident for tonight. l will let you know how l manage. ?

Best wishes, 

The Lazy Saint. 

[John]

I found Uranus easily with my 11x70 binoculars last night. Neptune was also fairly straightforward and thats fainter.

While the disk of Uranus is larger than Neptunes it's still small at 3.7 arc seconds - that would fit 3x in between the stars of the double star Gamma Andromeda - thats pretty small !

Around 50x-100x magnification should show that Uranus is not a star though.