Seven planets and Moon challenge - Sunday 19th July early am

[Stu]

As per the title, at around 4.20am on Sunday morning it will be possible to see the five naked eye planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus Uranus and Neptune, both of which will need binoculars or a scope unless you are under a mag 6 NELM sky or better (Uranus is mag 5.8 currently I think)

It’s probably best to try from about 3.45am until at least 4.30am as Jupiter and Mercury with both be at just over 3 degrees at 4.20am so it’s worth making sure you catch both. The 2.9% illuminated crescent moon will also be rising and will be at about 6 degrees by 4.20am. All timings/altitudes are quoted from London so make adjustments for your local situation.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Nice one Stu. I will give it a go - hope it stays clear and can also take the Comet in as well.

[John]

A solar system feast !

Clear Outside is showing green from 10 pm on Sunday night through to the following morning as well

[Barry-W-Fenner]

This is great news. I hope we can get outside any view these. How amazing would it be to see the lot of them in one go.

Altitude is going to be an issue though.

I assume we would need to start with Jupiter & Saturn then Jump over to Mercury before the sun pop up. Maybe then Uranus & Neptune before its to light to locate them? Then Venus & finally Mars! 

Might as well chuck Pluto in for good measure 🙂🙂

Joking aside, to see all them would be some achievement taking into account all the variables required. Darkness, Cloud, Sunrise, Altitude etc...

 

Baz

[John]

Probably the surest way to actually see them all would be to use decent sized binoculars. Much more versatile in terms of the stuff that is in awkward postions as well.

 

 

[Sunshine]

I’m all in for this challenge! 

[Stu]

17 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

This is great news. I hope we can get outside any view these. How amazing would it be to see the lot of them in one go.

Altitude is going to be an issue though.

I assume we would need to start with Jupiter & Saturn then Jump over to Mercury before the sun pop up. Maybe then Uranus & Neptune before its to light to locate them? Then Venus & finally Mars! 

Might as well chuck Pluto in for good measure 🙂🙂

Joking aside, to see all them would be some achievement taking into account all the variables required. Darkness, Cloud, Sunrise, Altitude etc...

 

Baz

Yes, definitely get Jupiter in particular as soon as you can as will be getting low by that time. Would be great to get them all visible at the same time but more likely Jupiter will disappear before Mercury appears, unless you have a sea horizon of course!

[Stu]

1 hour ago, John said:

Probably the surest way to actually see them all would be to use decent sized binoculars. Much more versatile in terms of the stuff that is in awkward postions as well.

 

 

Yep, I would agree with that John. It’s great to be able to pan across all of them in line when these alignments occur.

[Stu1smartcookie]

What a fantastic challenge ... we can't do much about the weather but this is the sort of thing that i bought my telescope for . Brilliant.

[maw lod qan]

Of course, I have to work that day!

If for a moment you glance down at the ground beneath your feet, you officially get all eight of the planets!

Good luck to all who give this challenge a go. I look forward to hearing you success stories!

[Stu]

Meant to say, it’s worth trying tomorrow morning as well if, like me, your Sunday am forecast is looking dodgy...

[John]

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

Meant to say, it’s worth trying tomorrow morning as well if, like me, your Sunday am forecast is looking dodgy...

Good suggestion. Just got to sell the idea of 2 early hours sessions in a row to my other half now

 

[maw lod qan]

6 minutes ago, John said:

Good suggestion. Just got to sell the idea of 2 early hours sessions in a row to my other half now

 

Do like I've been known to do.

Put you foot down firmly, give your other half a really stern look, and the say "ah come on, please!"

[Stu]

2 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Do like I've been known to do.

Put you foot down firmly, give your other half a really stern look, and the say "ah come on, please!"

Or just be REALLY quiet and she will never know! 😴😴

[DaveL59]

29 minutes ago, Stu said:

Or just be REALLY quiet and she will never know! 😴😴

surely that'd only work on warm nights so your extremities aren't icy cold when you return to bed?  

For me I'll be trying for saturn and jupiter earlier (can't really be up at silly o'clock with an op in a few days) and give that vintage 3-inch scope a go. Should give me an idea how it would have been till the lens chipped which was a very sad moment. Still there's a chance I can replace it with another lens so am hoping it'll have a second life eventually  

[Paul73]

Well worth a drive out to somewhere with decent horizons!

I’ve done all of the planets in one night, but never all at the same time. That must be really unusual.

Good luck for tomorrow.

Paul

[DaveL59]

so success on Jupiter and Saturn with the vintage 3-incher, very nice views in fact  And to cap that I finally got to see Neowise from the back garden in the repaired HR/5 bino's too, so a good evening from my point of view. Couldn't locate Neowise in the old scope tho as I was aiming along the tube having taken the finder apart yesterday, that would've been great for the old lens, it may have seen Hale-Bop under its previous owner but that's ok, I'm sure it won't mind too much 😄 

managed to take a pic with the bridge camera, had to up the ISO to get it and handheld propped against a fence panel hence very bright foreground

Edited July 17, 2020 by DaveL59

[Stu]

Well my best hope is the five naked eye planets tonight. I’ve seen four plus the crescent Moon. Just waiting for Mercury but it’s pretty cloudy and I may be defeated! Fingers crossed.

[Stu]

No luck, a bank of cloud meant I couldn’t catch Mercury. Lovely dawn chorus and sunrise though.

[maw lod qan]

Mercury stayed hidden for me as well.

And sadly I'm beginning to think my eyes just aren't good enough to pick Uranus and Neptune out, unless they are very close to something I can find easy, like when Neptune was close to Mars.

The crescent moon with the Earthshine was very nice!

[Stu]

22 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Mercury stayed hidden for me as well.

And sadly I'm beginning to think my eyes just aren't good enough to pick Uranus and Neptune out, unless they are very close to something I can find easy, like when Neptune was close to Mars.

The crescent moon with the Earthshine was very nice!

Yes, even without cloud I think I would have struggled to pick up Uranus and Neptune. The earthshine did look lovely I agree.

[markse68]

Back pain and tiredness meant i called it a night at 1:30am- what a whimp 🤦‍♂️

BUT the planets I did see were sublime- watching Io pimpling off the limb chased by the sharp dot of its shadow, then the GRS i’ve not seen sharper with clear detail of its churning of its belt and a hint of faint swirls within it. It just keeps getting better and better. Ditto Saturn- shading of its surface stripes and in the rings. Mars too- clearly defined polar ice cap and a triangle of dark markings

The comet though was barely visible at that time from these light polluted skies- glad I caught it last weekend

Edited July 18, 2020 by markse68

[John]

Nice days but cloudy nights here for the past couple of days.

Forecast for Sunday night looks better though.

 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Mars looked beautiful at 4am, very clear phase and some dark patches on the center, is that cloud? Or maybe shadow?

The southern ice caps makes for some lovely contrast in colour, white on copper red!

great to see this detail.

is it possible to see both of Mars moons??

Baz

[Captain Scarlet]

I was defeated by cloud around 2am having only got Saturn Jupiter Neptune and Mars. But the comet at that time was spectacular, it had a tail that I measured as 10 degrees long! Same distance as between Megrez and Merak.