NEPTUNE BECOMES PART OF A SPECTACULAR 'DOUBLE STAR' TONIGHT AND EARLY AM

[Peter Drew]

Clouded out here on the Friday but good views of the pairing last night, Triton very obvious.   😀

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Peter Drew said:

Clouded out here on the Friday but good views of the pairing last night, Triton very obvious.   😀

Which scope was that through Peter, 16"?

[Peter Drew]

Yes Stu.    😀

[Paul M]

I had a go with the 10 x 50's last night. Good clear sky notwithstanding the moonlight.

It's not an area of sky I know well. It's washed out from home but in Cumbria I have a good S horizon. I star hopped from the Coat Hanger and found the target easily enough. I couldn't separate Neptune from the star; it looked singular to my eyes. I really expected it to be quite easy. 

Maybe the 5 pints of Carlsberg in the hours previous didn't help with my visual acuity!

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

I had a go with the 10 x 50's last night. Good clear sky notwithstanding the moonlight.

It's not an area of sky I know well. It's washed out from home but in Cumbria I have a good S horizon. I star hopped from the Coat Hanger and found the target easily enough. I couldn't separate Neptune from the star; it looked singular to my eyes. I really expected it to be quite easy. 

Maybe the 5 pints of Carlsberg in the hours previous didn't help with my visual acuity!

 

I would have thought you could pick it up in binos Paul, mag 7.8 should be doable and the separation was larger.

[Rusted]

You mean to say there are other planets above the clouds?
I always thought it was an old myth. To go with "tridents" and things.
How I wish I had an aeroplane, like you lot, so I could see them too.
I'll have to look at FLightOptics website about booking a ticket.

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I would have thought you could pick it up in binos Paul, mag 7.8 should be doable and the separation was larger.

Indeed, I've found Neptune an easy enough target with bins in the past. The sky was good and I doubt that moonlight was a factor.

I'm certain of having the right target, it was a straight forward star hop. Weird.

[Captain Scarlet]

I had a similar experience. Having got it rather easily through my refractor via goto, and having a very good RDF spot on (literally!) I thought it should be easy through my 15x56 Zeiss bins. Not so - I couldn’t see the pair through the bins and I knew I was looking at the right place. Weird.

[Stu]

Just managed it tonight with my 52mm spotting scope. Tried last night but the Moon was too close, causing horrid reflections in the scope. Tonight though, Phi Aquarii was quite easy to star hop too from the trio of stars below, and Neptune was forming a triangle with Phi and the mag 7.5 HD219349. Easier at x14 than at x28

Nice to get in such a small scope, particularly given the full moon.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Stu I wanted a challenge the night before last with the Full Moon virtually sat on top of Psi 1,2 and 3. With the Apollo 15x70 I could just about star hop to Phi Aqu but could not see Neptune. However, with the Heritage 130 starting with a ES68 24mm and then my TeleVue 8-24 zoom + Baader 2.25x I could see Neptune. I was really quite pleased with that especially with the Full Moon.

[Stub Mandrel]

I lost this thread! Managed to get this picture the day after:

 

[Stu]

8 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Stu I wanted a challenge the night before last with the Full Moon virtually sat on top of Psi 1,2 and 3. With the Apollo 15x70 I could just about star hop to Phi Aqu but could not see Neptune. However, with the Heritage 130 starting with a ES68 24mm and then my TeleVue 8-24 zoom + Baader 2.25x I could see Neptune. I was really quite pleased with that especially with the Full Moon.

Nice one Mark. I found that with my spotting scope, there were just too many  internal reflections in the prism with the moon just out of the field of view. Much easier last night than the night before when the moon was so close. It's fun trying these objects in smaller scopes, more of a challenge!

[chiltonstar]

I had a look this evening with the 180 Mak. Uranus was visible in the finder even with the Moon close by, and a clear light blue/green disc at x270 through the scope, although the seeing was only average. Only two moons visible - hardly surprising really with such a bright Moon/haze background.

Neptune was barely visible in the finder, although a nice blue ball through the scope. I couldn't make out Triton tonight against the very bright background, again hardly surprising.

A nice challenge though with such bright moonlight and a hazy sky!

Chris

[johnturley]

9 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

 

Neptune was barely visible in the finder, although a nice blue ball through the scope. I couldn't make out Triton tonight against the very bright background, again hardly surprising.

Chris

I've never been able to see Triton visually even through my 14 in Newtonian.

John 

[chiltonstar]

47 minutes ago, johnturley said:

I've never been able to see Triton visually even through my 14 in Newtonian.

John 

I've caught it a few times with the 180 Mak, but the conditions have to be excellent (seeing and transparency) to catch a mag 13.6 object with a relatively limited aperture. 

Chris

[John]

I got Triton list night with my 12 inch dob. Using high powers seems to help - I was at 450x. Triton was clear with direct vision last night. I have seen it with my 130mm refractor as well.

[chiltonstar]

11 hours ago, John said:

I got Triton list night with my 12 inch dob. Using high powers seems to help - I was at 450x. Triton was clear with direct vision last night. I have seen it with my 130mm refractor as well.

Triton was pretty obvious to me as well this evening, even with my smaller scope; very good transparency though and the Moon has moved round a bit. . The view was best at x350 with my scope/eye. With moonlight shining directly on the scope, I had to use my black hood, and then Triton popped in to view (DV) easily. Interesting to see the amount of movement of Neptune cpd with the star.

Chris