Excellent planetary seeing conditions!

[John]

32 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I just came back from  a couple of hours of great seeing. Saturn and Jupiter were fabulous but I concentrated on Neptune. Had my highest power EP, 6mm giving x450. It got easier as the time went on, the best moments were around 10pm when I could see Triton with averted vision for long periods of time. It's on the opposite side to Neptune from the 6th magnitude star, and about 1/6 of the way out. There is another much easier 12th magnitude star further out.

I'm thrilled, Triton was only discovered in 19-th century with a much bigger telescope!

Great stuff Nik - well done !!!!

[vineyard]

Thanks @Nik271 for starting this thread.  Got me motivated to try & find Neptune last night with a 7" & your tip of the HD221148 as a marker star was perfect.  There it was - my first visual on Neptune!

I think I may even have seen Triton (there were occasional moments when something a bit dim seemed to be there on the other side, but - foolishly perhaps - I just spent most of my time just getting fuzzy on Neptune, so I can't definitively say whether I saw Triton - will err on the side of having to go back & look for it more properly ).

Thanks again.

[Nik271]

1 hour ago, vineyard said:

Thanks @Nik271 for starting this thread.  Got me motivated to try & find Neptune last night with a 7" & your tip of the HD221148 as a marker star was perfect.  There it was - my first visual on Neptune!

I think I may even have seen Triton (there were occasional moments when something a bit dim seemed to be there on the other side, but - foolishly perhaps - I just spent most of my time just getting fuzzy on Neptune, so I can't definitively say whether I saw Triton - will err on the side of having to go back & look for it more properly ).

Thanks again.

I'm glad that it helped! In the coming days with less moonlight and Neptune getting higher early in the evening I'm convinced that Triton will become more visible with smaller aperture as John has demonstrated.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Nik271

[John]

Triton's magnitude seems to average out at around 13.4.

Looking at the various scope calculators around on the web, they are fairly consistent that magnitude 13.4 is the limit for a 130mm aperture scope.

I have not seen Triton with my smaller aperture scopes so far, so the optical theory seems sound.

Or can someone do better ?

 

[Geoff Barnes]

Excellent planetary seeing is something I haven't had since I don't remember when, but tonight it is looking very promising indeed,

crystal clear, cool and calm. The 12 inch Dob is out on the front lawn with a Astrozap cover draped over it to keep the dew off.

Gosh I honestly can't remember the last time conditions allowed me to get it out, must be four months ago before winter set in, and a relentlessly dull windy wet winter it was up here on the mountain. 

No GRS or lunar transits happening tonight unfortunately but I don't mind, it will be such a thrill just to be out under the skies in good conditions, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune are beckoning me!

I just hope I can remember how to use the darn thing!