First observation of uranus with 203mm aperture

[N3ptune]

I saw Uranus last night (; Yééééé!

The disc was bigger then Neptune from maybe a month ago. I tried various powers on it to achieve the best result and for Uranus I found that, the more power, the better. The Neodymium filter was of a great help to reveal some color too.

These are my observations: 203 x 1000 Newtonian reflector.

OBSERVATION

#1. Planet was located at low power using 29x with my ES 34mm, the initial color was beige. It was easy to locate with some preparation using a sketch I did from Stellarium and which I brought with me to the field. Planet was at around 30 degrees elevation from the ground in Pisces of course.

#2. Secondly, I did a test a 100x magnification, (18mm + 2x barlow) which was quite better to reveal the disk but not enough obviously.

#3. Then I tried 7mm 143x orthoscopic and then 212x ES 4.7mm, I preferred the results at 212x to get a slightly bigger disc.

#4. With the Neodymium filter the planet was greyish with a slight tint of bluish around the edge at the bottom (inverted Newtonian image) A nice round and fairly sharp grey disk (but small) Without the filter planet was kind of beige ..?

#5. I tried 287x after,7mm orthoscopic in my 2x barlow with the neo filter.. but my 8" scope could not handle it very well, I had to step down to 212x again to get a decent resolution which was nevertheless, impressive.  (even for something has small has Uranus.)

CONCLUSION

Conclusion, it was great, and I am very very happy with my first observation of Uranus which lasted about 30 minutes. I think it would be even better with a bigger telescope to be able to put 300x or more power if possible on it.

Thanks !

[John]

Nice report !

Congatulations on finding and observing Uranus

 

[Louis D]

Now I'm trying to remember if I was using my 8" or 15" dob when I first observed Uranus and Neptune as obviously green and blue, respectively.  I found it surprising it wasn't subtle, they each had distinct color.  It was especially surprising since Jupiter and Saturn don't show much of any distinctive coloration.

[MarsG76]

Nice report. 

Uranus was always bigger than Neptune for obvious reasons. Apparently some people can spot at least one of it moons, titania at mag 13.9 in a 8" telescope....

[beka]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

Now I'm trying to remember if I was using my 8" or 15" dob when I first observed Uranus and Neptune as obviously green and blue, respectively.  I found it surprising it wasn't subtle, they each had distinct color.  It was especially surprising since Jupiter and Saturn don't show much of any distinctive coloration.

Same for me, in my 11 inch CPC the green of Uranus and blue of Neptune seemed obvious. Although our minds are tricky things and we may be seeing what we expect based on our prior knowledge. Also I imagine there will be differences between individuals in color perception sensitivity.

Best

[Chris]

Nice report! I outer planets do start to become captivating with 8" of aperture. I remember the views through my C8 being very nice indeed with an obvious blue tinged sharp disc.

[Stu]

49 minutes ago, beka said:

Same for me, in my 11 inch CPC the green of Uranus and blue of Neptune seemed obvious. Although our minds are tricky things and we may be seeing what we expect based on our prior knowledge. Also I imagine there will be differences between individuals in color perception sensitivity.

Best

Definitely agree with this. Particularly with low light levels I think peoples colour perception varies a lot. From memory I see Uranus as a greenish grey, but Neptune as a lovely deep blue, haven't seen them for a while but must grab them whilst they are well placed.

[JOC]

6 hours ago, N3ptune said:

the initial color was beige

I found this comment interesting - I had a very dis-satisfactory observing experience the other week (I wrote about it) when I doubted the goto was performing.  However, at one point in that session (when nothing was 'sharp' in the EP I did try for Neptune and Uranus.  I doubted that the goto was working and didn't think I had found anything, however as I said I did set the goto for both planets - with doubt that I would find either.  However, in one of these views  (the one in the S-SE at about 2030) the goto found a slightly brown dirty target, that didn't look like a point of light (though it certainly wouldn't focus - as nothing did really well that night).  Since it wasn't a blue/green disk I doubted I had found my planet, but if N3ptune reckons their view of Uranus was 'beige' maybe I had.  I couldn't say if it was correct against other star locations as I would not have recognised Pisces, but I now wonder if I did view Uranus.

[N3ptune]

I found Uranus right away it took less then 5 minutes starting my star hoping from "o" Omicron star in Pisces (from my darkest spot with visible milky way).  The planet was beige at low power, 29x and even at 100x, I find this strange too.. unexplained.

Maybe there was tube current and hot eyepieces at the moment, mixed with only a partial dark adaptation. At the end of the observation, 30 minutes later, using 143x and 212x the color was there, but it was gray bluish.. I could not see any greenish colors there.

Also at 143x and 212x the planet shape, the disk, was obvious it was a few seconds in diameter.

For me, It looked like these colors from the Munsell color chart (Using an uncalibrated monitor and my memory only) around the red dot for the planet and the yellow dot for the hint of bluish visible at the edges only.

If this can help..

[John]

I observed Neptune and Uranus during the same session a few weeks ago. Neptune was a definite pale blue colour to my eyes while Uranus seemed a pale olive / grey / green on that occasion.

Some time back I observed Uranus when it was close to the Moon (the lunar limb and the planet in the same FoV at 199x) and it looked much more bluey then.

So many factors can affect what the colours we perceive I reckon