The farthest planet in the eyepiece

[Eastman]

Well tonight was all about being reunited again with the Telrad.

I sold the old one with the telescoop it was mounted on, and when the new scope arrived I only worked with 9X50 finderscope. I really tried but I can't get used to a optical finderscope. Somehow I like to search with my two eyes open and a reddotfinder or a Telrad is perfect for that job. My Sky safari app has a Telrad cirkel option in it so that works also very well.

I like to use the Telrad cirkels to find my objects of choice or find the star to make the starhop from. My intention was just to get the Telrad lined up with the telescope and then find some deepsky object for the moom rises up.  first up Mars. It's just above my neighbours roof and a raging ball of fire in the eyepiece.

Took a look at M13, M 92 ( I like that bright core), M57, M31 (been a while ago)and it's companions M32 and M110, that last one was difficult to see cause the moon already lights up the sky. But it is really good to have a Telrad back on my scope, makes finding object to me much easier and faster.

Somehow I Always forget to take a look at Neptune, the only planet for me left to visit. But tonight I thought of it and started the starhop from 73 Aqr in Aquarius. Neptune was pretty easy to find. Turning up the magnification, YESSS a disk was formed. I can not say that is was blue but more greenish grey. But these are the special moments to me, seeing a new planet in the eyepiece is really something great. The smile is still on my face, had a great session.

 

Thanks for reading.

[John]

Nice report - it does give a nice feeling to see something new for the 1st time

With your 250PX you should be able to spot Neptunes brightest moon, Triton. It's faint (around magnitude 13) but can be seen or glimpsed under reasonable conditions using high magnifications eg: 300x or more. It's the most distant rock / ice body I've ever seen

(unless I manage to see Pluto someday)

[Charic]

1 hour ago, Eastman said:

.........I only worked with 9X50 finderscope. I really tried but I can't get used to a optical finderscope. Somehow I like to search with my two eyes open and a reddotfinder or a Telrad is perfect for that job

I keep both eyes open when using my 9x50. The images align quickly, and is my favoured method of finding.

Also, I'm on my third Telrad but it's not yet fully mounted? This one is the full setup, with 4" riser, right angle mirror in the dew shield and the Pulser mod.

I still prefer the 9x50 on the Dobsonian, but say on a refractor, the Telrad would be a no brainer for me. I will get around to fixing the Telrad soon, but if unsuccessful, I'll be keeping this device this time, maybe for my first refractor. I don't see why I need to sell and buy my fourth Telrad.

[Demonperformer]

Congratulations on another first.

Now you have completed the planets, you can always start on the dwarf planets. One will be easy (Ceres) and a second (Pluto) may just be possible in your 10" if you have a really dark sky (identifying it at the moment will be a pain as it cruises through the starfields of Sagittarius). The others ... well, maybe not!

[Eastman]

8 hours ago, John said:

With your 250PX you should be able to spot Neptunes brightest moon, Triton. It's faint (around magnitude 13) but can be seen or glimpsed under reasonable conditions using high magnifications eg: 300x or more. It's the most distant rock / ice body I've ever seen

(unless I manage to see Pluto someday)

That will be great John, thanks I'm  for sure going to try.

1 hour ago, Demonperformer said:

Now you have completed the planets, you can always start on the dwarf planets. One will be easy (Ceres) and a second (Pluto) may just be possible in your 10" if you have a really dark sky (identifying it at the moment will be a pain as it cruises through the starfields of Sagittarius). The others ... well, maybe not!

Thanks DP, Ceres I found ealier. But Pluto is still on the wish list. I thought that it was just not possible. But that's going to be a tough one than.

 

[Demonperformer]

2 hours ago, Eastman said:

But Pluto is still on the wish list. I thought that it was just not possible. But that's going to be a tough one than.

The theoretical limit for a 10" scope is 14.7 (from Norton). Pluto is about 14.0 at opposition. So, if everything was perfect, it would be well within grasp, but things are rarely perfect and any light pollution can dramatically reduce visibility. The other problem at the moment is its location - it is well south of the ecliptic and its current field is filled with faint stars at about the same magnitude. The attached image is a 1 degree field (red circle) showing stars down to the theoretical limit. Pluto is in the circle, but would you know which one it is? The good news is that it is moving out of the MW fields, but it will remain waay south for many years to come (it reaches its furthest southerly point in 2030).

[PaulM]

Nice report. Telrads are great. Also consider a 90 degree finderscope made star hoping much easier on my 200p dob

I've yet to view Neptune cant wait to do so.

[Charic]

36 minutes ago, PaulM said:

Telrads are great. Also consider a 90 degree finderscope made star hoping much easier on my 200p dob.

Here's both items. 

The reason I sold my last two Telrad's was down to an issue I have trying to focus on the reticule itself.

With two images, I'm trying to portray how my eyes see the reticle with/without glasses on.

 

 

 

 

I still favour the 9x50 that came with the scope, finding with both eyes open!........

 

 

[Eastman]

6 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

 

Busy patch of Sky, tht's going to be a challenge

[John]

With Pluto I think it's a case of lining up on what you think is the correct area of the sky. Let your eye become as dark adapted as possible, use a medium to high power eyepiece and carefully sketch the positions of the stars you can see. Repeat this process on another night and see which star has moved !

Mag 14.7 is pretty faint from the average back yard - It's about my limit with my 12" dob from my back garden.

Good luck !

[alan potts]

I'm fairly confident I have seen Pluto with the 18 inch but by no means sure which dot it was.

 

[jock1958]

22 hours ago, PaulM said:

Nice report. Telrads are great. Also consider a 90 degree finderscope made star hoping much easier on my 200p dob

I've yet to view Neptune cant wait to do so.

Had a go at locating Neptune the last couple of nights but failed.....I may have strayed past it but the seeing hasn’t been particularly good and not sure if it would be anything more than a dot through my Tak ?

[John]

At low power it is difficult to see that Neptune is different from a star. Once the magnification rises above 100x or more then you start to realise that it has an apparent disk rather than just being a point of light. At around 200x and more the disk becomes a little more obvious though it's never more than tiny of course. 2.5 arc seconds is very small !

I can just about see Neptune with my 6x30 optical finder under reasonably dark conditions - it's only like a 7th magnitude star in that of course !