A Tour of the Solar System

[Littleguy80]

When I reported on having observed all the planets, after seeing Mercury for the first time, it was suggested the my next challenge should be to see them all in one night. Last year, I had an opportunity to try for this but fell at the first hurdle as I couldn't find Mercury in the bright evening sky. This week I realised that I had another potential opportunity to try for this. The tour of the Solar System began during the day with some white light solar observing. No active regions at the moment but I enjoyed comparing views between an ND3 filter and an ND3 filter stacked with a continuum style filter. The tour resumed around dusk with a beautiful crescent Moon. I recently acquired a 3-6mm Nagler Zoom and I spent some time using this with my Equinox 80. The 10" dob sat cooling for use later on in the evening. Mare Crisium was very prominent and looked fantastic. The 80mm frac and the little zoom are a perfect match. 

Mercury was next on the list. Would the little planet trip me up again? I used SkySafari's augmented reality mode to figure out where I should be looking. Using the Moon, I was able to properly align the virtual map of the sky with the view through the phone. My ES68 24mm eyepiece gives a TFOV of over 3 degrees making it an ideal finder eyepiece. It didn't take much searching before the pinpoint planet was spotted. I jumped to the 9mm Lunt XWA and then onto the zoom. As small disc was shown confirming that I definitely had Mercury. One planet down! 

Half an hour later and cloud was passing over the Moon and the area where Mars should be. SkySafari helped find the search zone and I sat nervously watching the cloud move through. I was concerned that it wouldn't clear before Mars set. After another 10 mins, with the last of the cloud just about gone, a small point of light shown through close to the horizon. A couple of quick eyepiece changes and the sighting of Mars was confirmed. No detail to be seen at such a low altitude but this session wasn't about seeing the finer details. I was feeling more confident now, I knew these two would be among the more challenging targets. I picked up the little frac with the zoom still in place and walked around to the front of the house. It's great having such a light set up to move around with. Jupiter was still very low but there was a GRS transit happening which I wanted to see. Jupiter was an easy tick on the list but the GRS was not. In the end, I moved the dob around front and got a sighting using the extra aperture. As is so often the case with planetary observing, patience was required to wait for the good patches of seeing allowing details to be seen.

I returned to the frac and went in search of a dwarf planet. Without too much effort, I was able to find Ceres. The view through the 9mm Lunt XWA was superb. The sharpness of the stars and dwarf planet in the frac was really impressive. I took a small break and then returned outside around midnight. I went back to Jupiter in the dob and enjoyed some much better views now it was higher in the sky. I also picked up the GRS in the frac. It was now time for the ringed planet Saturn. I'm never disappointed by Saturn, it's such an impressive sight even when conditions aren't great. No Cassini division on this occasion but I wasn't complaining. I contemplated a tour of Sagittarius but decided that I really needed to get some sleep before returning for the remaining planets. 

I settled down to sleep on the sofa with the alarm set for 2:45am. On waking up, a look outside brought massive disappointment as the sky was now completely clouded over. I spent some time looking at satellite images for any hope that it may pass. I then slowly packed up, hoping that the skies would clear but it was not meant to be. I'm confident that I could have gotten Neptune and Venus. The sky was already quite bright when I woke so I still have a question mark as to whether I could have observed Uranus. Despite the disappointment, I thoroughly enjoyed this session and am looking forward to the next opportunity to try for all the planets in one night.  

[Froeng]

Great report! A very nice challenge. Will have to give this a try at some point as well!

 

[maw lod qan]

A very nice report!

I still struggle in my attempt to visually find Uranus with my 8" dob. But then, I struggle to find many things. I am enjoying the fun of the hunt.

I have done 4 in one morning session. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the Earth.

[Paul73]

Good work. Congratulations.

It does take a bit of planning, but well worth the effort.

Paul

 

[Littleguy80]

18 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

A very nice report!

I still struggle in my attempt to visually find Uranus with my 8" dob. But then, I struggle to find many things. I am enjoying the fun of the hunt.

I have done 4 in one morning session. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the Earth.

Thank you. I find SkySafari invaluable for finding the outer planets. I managed Uranus and Neptune with my 130mm reflector so I’m sure you’ll get them with your dob in the end. I always think the challenge is a big part of the fun. It means more when you get something after a few unsuccessful attempts. 

[Paul73]

For Uranus, try with binoculars first. You shouldn’t spot it. Then getting a scope on it is child’s play.

Paul

[Littleguy80]

2 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

For Uranus, try with binoculars first. You shouldn’t spot it. Then getting a scope on it is child’s play.

Paul

Good shout. I’ve seen it with my 10x50s a few times now 

[Trikeflyer]

Nice report and sounds like a fun challenge. I’ll give it a go.

thanks for posting

steve