did I see Neptune?

[kniclander]

well, I think (pretty sure) I was looking in the right place at 133x through a 6" newt. I saw what looked very like a star - it might have been slightly bluish and it might have been a (very) tiny disc and it might have scintillated a touch less than comparable mag stars but after looking at it for the best part of half an hour I can't be sure :scratch: . So my question is, what does neptune look like at that mag? is it obviously "planetlike" or not really?

thanks

dan

[The Warthog]

It's very hard to distinguish from a star. I did by printing out a very small scale map of the area with my finder and ep views from CDC, to make sure I had the right one. It looked more greenish to me. We thought we saw it last spring in a 12" dob, but couldn't confirm it with the charts we had. It still looked like a star.

[GazOC]

I'd say that if it looked slightly bluish and might have shown a disk then you've seen Neptune. Not many stars in the FOV will have fulfilled both those criteria...

[kniclander]

thanks guys - Gaz - it may have it looked bluish and disclike because I knew it "should" look bluish and disclike....

Warthog, on the basis of your comments I am satisifed that as I was not obviously not looking at it (ie it might have been it) and I'm pretty sure I was in the right place then I probably was looking at it....

so how about pluto..........? :shock:

Dan