Quote:
Originally Posted by barx1963
Shaun
The obvious question is, how do you know it was a planet?
If it was showing a disc, that is not conclusive as if it was low in the sky, bright stars can appear fuzzy or even as small discs in a scope.
Malcolm
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Shaun,
Malcolm brings up a good question. Thing is, Uranus is visible in a 60mm refractor - I've spotted it easily in a 30mm finder. AND it is also visible naked eye! if you know where to look and have a decent dark sky. But the disk it shows is not big. Very, very little, and in the thermally challenged low horizon EVERY star shows a disk...
Neptune you can forget about for the position you allude to it being - low in the sky. It is visible in a 60mm refractor, but it will show no disk at all. It's disk is smaller than Uranus' (bloody small remember). I've seen it in my scopes, but unless seeing conditions are perfect, and your optics can handle the magnification, you have no way of making out a disk. Uranus is also at around magnitude 5.6, not bright, but enough to be an easy scope object. Neptune though has a
very striking way if making itself known - it is gorgeous blue colour. Too blue to be a star, which would appear white rather than blue. I mean like saphire blue. It is also not bright, magnitude 8.
Mercury is also very, very small. Too small to show a distinguishable disk at that low altitude. It will appear bloated, but so will stars at that elevation too.
Now, not doubting that you may have seen a planet. But things are stacked up against you from the information you've provided. Just too many variables. The Eastern horizon is very wide, your description is just too vague, and the range of dates wayyyy too wide for a single viewing confirmation. AND, from your own affirmation, you were very 'green' with astro, so your experience would have not allowed you to be more critical of your observation. Now, given the same circumstances today, but with your experience now, you would be much better able to determine your question for yourself, or provide more helpful information for us to help...
Any advance on info?
Alex.