True Blue Neptune

[John]

Neptune is close to the moon tonight and the lunar glare is affecting that part of the sky quite markedly.

Despite this I tracked down the distant gas giant relatively easily with my 12 inch dob and have had an enjoyable 30 minutes gradually racking up the magnification until it's brightest moon, Triton, was winking shyly in and out of visibility.

Neptune's tiny (2.34 arc seconds) disk seemed to hold up very well under high magnifications, eg: 400x or so. I also noticed that it looked a more intense blue tone than I've seen before.

I have noticed that the moons glow can intensify the colour tints of a planet that is close to it (in line of sight terms). A few years ago Uranus was very close to the lunar limb and I had a similar effect at that time.

I wonder what causes this effect ?

If it stays clear (which looks a little doubtful to be honest) I'll have a look at Mars plus the supernova in NGC 514 a little later and possibly Uranus as well. Having had a quick look at Jupiter and Saturn and their moons earlier I might be able to have a 6 planet / 13 moon night (including the Earth and our moon of course)

If I spot Deimos (unlikely with this moon) then 14 moons !

Voyager 2 image of Neptune and Triton from 1989:

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by John
Spelling !

[nephilim]

Nice report.
I first found both Neptune & Uranus on the same evening a few years ago through my 8" Newt & although only pinpoints of light, there was noticeable colour & still very enjoyable to see for the first time when you realise exactly what it is your looking at having only ever seen photos for many years.

[Waddensky]

5 minutes ago, John said:

I have noticed that the moons glow can intensify the colour tints of a planet that is close to it (in line of sight terms). A few years ago Uranus was very close to the lunar limb and I had a similar effect at that time.

I wonder what causes this effect ?

Wonderful report, thanks! I'd say the moonlight is bright enough to activate photopic vision. Star colours always seem more vivid to me in the twilight, perhaps the same effect.

[JeremyS]

Interesting report, John. Thank you 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Great report John.

I managed to find Neptune tonight aswell! Very pleased as this is my official 1st viewing of it. I think I found it on my last session but got clouded out before I could confirm.

Anyhow, I was probably looking at Neptune in my 12" dob at the same time as you!  I didn't quite get the great views that you had unfortunately, I could make out the very small bluish disc at x230 but it was a bit on the blurry side. No luck with the moon. I am however pleased to have finally seen the last planet on my list.

I had a look at Mars but couldnt see much detail in it tonight, the ice cap was clear and grey banding did pop in and out of view but not great.

I also had a look at the various clusters in cas aswell they were also less than idea, in fact not much did look good tonight except the moon. That was astonishing. I'm now questioning if it's my collimation of the conditions.

 

Cheers

 

Baz

[John]

I would say that they seeing here is rather variable Baz. While Neptune took high magnifications as it often does, Mars did not respond so well and my best views so far have been at 227x with the Pentax XW 7mm eyepiece. There is quite a lot of Martian surface detail showing but the contrast of the darker features "comes and goes" all the time so you have to work quite hard at it. The Moon was nice here but I could not get good views much above 200x with the 12 inch dob, on this occasion.

It's so easy to question the equipment under UK skies but most often I'm sure it's the seeing.

 

 

[John]

Managed to get a couple of Uranian moons but no Martians. Clouds starting to interfere now so I'll probably pack up soon.

Did manage to pick up Messier 33 - the Triangulum Galaxy and specifically NGC 604, the H II star forming region in that galaxy. Had some fun observing this fascinating patch of light at high power and trying UHC and O-III filters to see what difference they made. Not a lot tonight was my conclusion !

I'll try this again when the sky is darker. At 220x this immense nebula was nice and clear next to a magnitude 11 foreground star. Brighter surface magnitude than it's host galaxy I reckon.

Probably a good place to call it a night

 

[Jiggy 67]

Nice report. I first viewed Neptune a few weeks ago and found it’s colour, a lovely blue disc, more intense than Uranus, didn’t manage Triton though