Help needed locating planets I can't see with the naked eye

[D4V1D88]

Hi, I'm desperate for help trying to locate planets that I can't see with the naked eye - most recently Uranus. I'm using an astromaster 130EQ and I have got some great views of Jupiter and saturn but from where I live I can't see Uranus unaided. 

 

I use star walk 2 to point me in the rough direction and then I just methodically scan up down left-hand right but I have spent hours with no luck. What is the best method to find these illusive planets? Will it stand out like Jupiter or saturn did or could I quite easily skip past it. Is it similar to a star?

I have a 4/6/12/20mm eyepieces.

Thanks in advance!

David

[Doc]

Uranus is about mag 5.8 so unless you live somewhere like the Atacama desert I don't think you will see it unaided.

It will not stand out with low mag it will look like any other star, you need to increase the mag until you notice a disk and then you will see a little colour.

It's difficult to find but how I do it without go-to is too star hop to the right area with a low mag eyepiece or a finder and then increase magnification until you see a disk and not a star, you can tell the difference with magnification.

It's a lot more harder then Jupiter or Saturn.

 

 

 

 

[Pete Presland]

Uranus is a tricky spot, but it is clearly visible in my finder scope. Have you got Stellarium on a PC?

[Gfamily]

Hi David

My wife found Uranus with binoculars using Stellarium on her phone. She identified a bright star nearby and hopped from star to star, zooming in (on the app) as appropriate to work out where exactly to look. 

So, in your case, I suggest starting at Alrescha ( Alpha Psc), then hopping along to the right to see Zeta, Nu and Mu Psc. When you've moved between Nu and Mu, move about the same distance (about 2 3/4 degrees) 'up' towards the zenith, and Uranus should be the brightest thing in your field of view.

If you can do this with binoculars first (while referring back to Star Walk) , you should be able to get a feel for the movement you want to make, and you should be able to see Uranus fairly obviously before you switch to your telescope. 

Start with the 20mm to give you the widest field of view as you're hopping, and when you're there you can then swap to the 12mm. Depending on the quality of the sky, you can probably use the 6mm, but it may be that you don't get any benefit from using the 4mm as the view may just go to 'mush'. 

Hope this helps

 

[D4V1D88]

Guys thanks for the quick replies! Ok so I need to star hop - I'll give that a go. I don't own binoculars and my finder scope doesn't have any mag so I'll go with my 20mm EP. I'll let you know how it goes. What are the easiest planets/moons to observe in order? I'm guessing it starts;

1.moon 2.venus 3.jupiter 4.saturn

I have observed the moon Jupiter and saturn - what others should be my priority? Below is some Info I have put together regarding my telescope and what I have learned...feel free to correct me as I am very new to this!

Telescope Celestron 130EQ
GENERAL
Weight 28 lbs

OPTICAL SYSTEM
Telescope Class reflector
Telescope Aperture 130 mm (5.11811 inches)
Focal Ratio f/5.0
Resolving Power 1.07 arc sec
Limiting Visual Magnitude 13.1
Telescope Focal Length 650mm

TELESCOPE MOUNT
Type equatorial
Slow-Motion Control manual
Model 130EQ

----------

MAGNIFICATION / POWER
Focal length/focal length of eyepiece

MAX USEABLE MAG
As a rule of thumb, the maximum usable power is equal to 60 times the aperture of the telescope (in inches 2.54cm to 1 inch) under ideal conditions = x307

EP/Without x2 Barlow/With x2 Barlow
20mm/x32/x64
10mm/x65/x130
06mm/x108/x216
04mm/x162/x324

[D4V1D88]

Gfamily I tried searching the stars you mentioned but couldn't find them. I don't have stellarium but I'm sure star walk 2 works in the same way and if it does I'll stick with that because I have it on my phone which is portable.

[Doc]

Best advice will be to download Stellarium, it's free and easy to use. Look up Uranus and try and match the sky with Stellarium.

For someone new to this I would list the following which will be visible in your scope.

Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, Neptune. ( In order of difficulty)

Then non planet objects:

M31, M13, Double Cluster, M57

All these are pretty easy to star hop to.

 

 

[Mr niall]

I use starwalk 2, it’s not as good as stellarium but I prefer it too. I,ve been struggling with Uranus and Neptune for a a few weeks - found Uranus with my 90mm scope for the first time last week and even then I’m only 90 percent sure it was the right thing. Seemed to be in the right place but honestly even at 80x it still looked like a golden coloured star so the jury is out.

its not an easy find, don’t beat yourself up (I found it with starwalk). Your method for finding is the same is mine - keep narrowing it down to an area using brighter stars as signposts.

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

golden coloured star

That colour doesn't sound right so I suspect you were off target. At x200 it showed a tiny disc for my, slight pale greyish/green perhaps.

[Mr niall]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

That colour doesn't sound right so I suspect you were off target. At x200 it showed a tiny disc for my, slight pale greyish/green perhaps.

Wouldn’t surprise me! Was speaking to a pal on the phone a few days ago. Told him I’d spent the last 6 weeks looking for Uranus. My wife and kids couldn’t stop laughing for about twenty minutes!

The search continues! (I haven’t updated my signature so I supposes that shows I wasn’t too confident!)

[Gfamily]

I would suggest you get a pair of binoculars - personally, I would say that a cheap pair of Aldi/Lidl ones would do - try them out in the shop and check that they have both barrels aligned. 

You'll be using them just to find stars that are lost in the background glare, so you're not relying on truly great optics, and so long as they're light and don't give you a squint, you should be OK. 

So, use Star Walk to locate the rough area of the sky for your target, then use the binoculars to find the first star you'll use for hopping. You then know the area of the sky to point your Finder 

Oh, and of course, give your eyes 10 or 15 minutes to get your eyes dark adapted before you start. Avoid looking at street lights, and if you're using Star Walk, set it to Night Mode, to keep your night vision keen. 

[Stub Mandrel]

+1 for stellarium. Remember everything is probably the wrong way round or left/right flipped depending on your gear

I first found Uranus (and Neptune) by using Stellarium to mark the right spot in my star atlas, then turning my map upside down so it matched the view through my Newt.

(they both look bluish BTW)

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

(they both look bluish BTW)

I think colour sensitivity and impression varies a lot person to person. To me, Neptune is a lovely blue colour, Uranus often a pale green. Probably varies with aperture too.

[D4V1D88]

On 2/4/2018 at 18:49, Gfamily said:

Hi David

My wife found Uranus with binoculars using Stellarium on her phone. She identified a bright star nearby and hopped from star to star, zooming in (on the app) as appropriate to work out where exactly to look. 

So, in your case, I suggest starting at Alrescha ( Alpha Psc), then hopping along to the right to see Zeta, Nu and Mu Psc. When you've moved between Nu and Mu, move about the same distance (about 2 3/4 degrees) 'up' towards the zenith, and Uranus should be the brightest thing in your field of view.

If you can do this with binoculars first (while referring back to Star Walk) , you should be able to get a feel for the movement you want to make, and you should be able to see Uranus fairly obviously before you switch to your telescope. 

Start with the 20mm to give you the widest field of view as you're hopping, and when you're there you can then swap to the 12mm. Depending on the quality of the sky, you can probably use the 6mm, but it may be that you don't get any benefit from using the 4mm as the view may just go to 'mush'. 

Hope this helps

 

Thansk for that I will look at getting some binoculars. My have my grandads set from when he was in the navy I will try first. what mag should I be using as a minimum?

[D4V1D88]

On 2/4/2018 at 19:18, Doc said:

Best advice will be to download Stellarium, it's free and easy to use. Look up Uranus and try and match the sky with Stellarium.

For someone new to this I would list the following which will be visible in your scope.

Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, Neptune. ( In order of difficulty)

Then non planet objects:

M31, M13, Double Cluster, M57

All these are pretty easy to star hop to.

 

 

This is now my to see list! thanks!

[D4V1D88]

On 2/4/2018 at 20:51, Gfamily said:

I would suggest you get a pair of binoculars - personally, I would say that a cheap pair of Aldi/Lidl ones would do - try them out in the shop and check that they have both barrels aligned. 

You'll be using them just to find stars that are lost in the background glare, so you're not relying on truly great optics, and so long as they're light and don't give you a squint, you should be OK. 

So, use Star Walk to locate the rough area of the sky for your target, then use the binoculars to find the first star you'll use for hopping. You then know the area of the sky to point your Finder 

Oh, and of course, give your eyes 10 or 15 minutes to get your eyes dark adapted before you start. Avoid looking at street lights, and if you're using Star Walk, set it to Night Mode, to keep your night vision keen. 

I will do exactly that! Thanks for the night mode tip too!

[D4V1D88]

On 2/4/2018 at 21:40, Stub Mandrel said:

+1 for stellarium. Remember everything is probably the wrong way round or left/right flipped depending on your gear

I first found Uranus (and Neptune) by using Stellarium to mark the right spot in my star atlas, then turning my map upside down so it matched the view through my Newt.

(they both look bluish BTW)

That's a great idea - Im also struggling because my 20mm is a rectifying eyepeice (i think thats the correct term) and the others are'nt. Ill try that! thanks

[Cosmic Geoff]

I hate to ruin your day, D4VID88, but it is far easier to locate the fainter planets if you use a GoTo mount.

A while ago I owned a supermarket telescope and I spent weeks trying to find and positively identify Uranus.  Finally I cracked and went to an astronomy store and came back with an ex-display Nexstar SLT 127mm Mak.  A night or two later I got it set up and minutes later it found a faint green thing. A change of eyepiece and ... definitely Uranus.

With the same kit I have seen all of the major planets, including some in daylight. 

[happy-kat]

On 15/02/2018 at 22:05, D4V1D88 said:

Thansk for that I will look at getting some binoculars. My have my grandads set from when he was in the navy I will try first. what mag should I be using as a minimum?

Binoculars if buying new for star gazing general use 8*42 or 10*50. The former should be lighter and great for day time bird watching too. Don't buy zoom binoculars. Do try your grandad's I hope they'll be fine.