Triton - who's seen it visually?

[Flame Nebula]

Hi Everyone, 

Who has observed triton, visually, NOT via imaging? And what scope did you use? 

Mark

[John]

Sorry it's me again 🙄

I've seen Triton visually several times with my 12 inch dobsonian and a couple of times under very good conditions with my 130mm refractor. 

I was hoping to see it with my 120mm refractor at the last opposition but that didn't happen, or at least not conclusively, mostly due to poor weather. I still think it's possible with that scope though. Maybe even with a 100/102mm if things fall into place.

When I had the 12 inch dob I also managed to see Oberon and Titania, Uranus's brightest moons. I've not managed that with a smaller aperture as yet though.

Triton is quite magical to see visually. It's just a faint dot of course but it is the most distant rock and ice world that I've managed to see.

I seem to specialise in faint dots of light 🙄

 

Edited March 15 by John

[mikeDnight]

Strangely, I've never even thought about looking for it, but I'll certainly add it to my fishing list. Thanks! 🙂

I love prompts like this. The last one, a few years ago, was Whos Seen the Horse Head? or something like that. It got me wondering if I could glimpsed it in my 100mm, and to date it was the single most difficult thing I've gone for and succeeded, though it looked like a dark notch and nothing like a horses head.

[NGC 1502]

I’ve tried visually with my 10” Dob from a dark site, sadly without success. Having found Neptune’s tiny disc I upped the mag to 300x with a 4mm eyepiece but no joy. High power darkens the background sky to increase the contrast between the object and sky.

In preparation it’s best to find out the position angle from Neptune on the date in question. Then make sure you’re aware how the orientation of the view according to scope type changes the view….

Maybe I’ll try again sometime.

Ed.

[Nakedgun]

~

I observed it once, seems like a dozen years ago now, but haven't tried for it since. I cannot locate my notes on the night to recall which scope, probably the 10" dob or C-9.25.

 

 

.

[Flame Nebula]

53 minutes ago, John said:

Sorry it's me again 🙄

I've seen Triton visually several times with my 12 inch dobsonian and a couple of times under very good conditions with my 130mm refractor. 

I was hoping to see it with my 120mm refractor at the last opposition but that didn't happen, or at least not conclusively, mostly due to poor weather. I still think it's possible with that scope though. Maybe even with a 100/102mm if things fall into place.

When I had the 12 inch dob I also managed to see Oberon and Titania, Uranus's brightest moons. I've not managed that with a smaller aperture as yet though.

Triton is quite magical to see visually. It's just a faint dot of course but it is the most distant rock and ice world that I've managed to see.

I seem to specialise in faint dots of light 🙄

 

Hi John🙂, 

Always good to hear your opinion. 

It is interesting that you could see it with 5" Refractor (well, 5.2"🤔), but not 4.8". Perhaps the cutoff lies around 5". I'll see what others say. 

Thanks 

[Flame Nebula]

40 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Strangely, I've never even thought about looking for it, but I'll certainly add it to my fishing list. Thanks! 🙂

I love prompts like this. The last one, a few years ago, was Whos Seen the Horse Head? or something like that. It got me wondering if I could glimpsed it in my 100mm, and to date it was the single most difficult thing I've gone for and succeeded, though it looked like a dark notch and nothing like a horses head.

Hi Mike, 

I was inspired to ask, by a rewatch of Brian Cox's "The Planets" series. It got me wondering. 

[John]

I find this tool for assessing Triton's position is useful but I generally consult it after having a go for it, to avoid averted imagination kicking in:

Neptune's Triton Tracker (skyandtelescope.org)

Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel seem to plot the position of these faint planetary moons quite accurately as well.

 

 

Edited March 15 by John

[Owmuchonomy]

Not yet but with an incoming 400mm ODK I'll put it on the list!

[Flame Nebula]

57 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Not yet but with an incoming 400mm ODK I'll put it on the list!

Mmm. Sounds tasty! 

[Nyctimene]

Spotted Triton in September 2021 with the 12" f/5 Hofheim traveldob, using the hints I found in Phil Harrington's book "Cosmic Challenge" (No. 156), mainly, to observe during Neptune's opposition, and Triton in greatest elongation (max. 17"!). Mag 330x showed  the 13.6 mag moon clearly with averted vision.

Stephan

[Space Hopper]

I actually often have a hard time seeing Neptune at times, never mind moon Triton ! 😀

Thank goodness for the Nexus DSC.

Seriously though, much respect to those that routinely see it. I've tried many times with 10 & 12 inch Newtonians and my current 140mm refractor without any joy.

I don't think I have good enough eyesight now. Then again (like Uranus) Neptune is becoming much netter placed for us in the UK to observe it, so you never know 🫰🏼

[John]

31 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:

Spotted Triton in September 2021 with the 12" f/5 Hofheim traveldob, using the hints I found in Phil Harrington's book "Cosmic Challenge" (No. 156), mainly, to observe during Neptune's opposition, and Triton in greatest elongation (max. 17"!). Mag 330x showed  the 13.6 mag moon clearly with averted vision.

Stephan

Yep - high magnifications certainly help. 

[niallk]

I've seen it with a 15" dob - chuffed to see it

I've seen 4 or possibly 5 moons of Uranus with the same scope in good seeing and transparency.  They were fainter than Triton, as far as I recall.

[Flame Nebula]

21 minutes ago, niallk said:

I've seen it with a 15" dob - chuffed to see it

I've seen 4 or possibly 5 moons of Uranus with the same scope in good seeing and transparency.  They were fainter than Triton, as far as I recall.

Hi, 

I'm wondering if this is within range of an 8" newt. 

[John]

On 02/04/2024 at 19:38, Flame Nebula said:

Hi, 

I'm wondering if this is within range of an 8" newt. 

Triton should be, on a good, dark night.

The moons of Uranus have so far eluded me at apertures less than 12 inches. Even the brightest of those is a magnitude fainter than Triton.

Edit: apologies, I realise that I've to some extent repeated what I posted earlier in this thread - I lost track !

Edited April 11 by John

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, John said:

Triton should be, on a good, dark night.

The moons of Uranus have so far eluded me at apertures less than 12 inches. Even the brightest of those is a magnitude fainter than Triton.

Edit: apologies, I realise that I've to some extent repeated what I posted earlier in this thread - I lost track !

Well it was good then and it’s good now, John 😊