Looking for Neptune and Uranus

[cahullian]

I know they are out there but I'll be buggered if I can find them. :doh:
Will they look like stars or little blobs in my 8"Dob using a 9mm ep?
I have no idea so any hints or tips would be a great help. :thumbsup:
I might have even spotted them but didn't recognise what I was seeing. :ashamed:
Thanks Gazz/Irish

[astroron]

If the seeing is poor any bluish star can look like Uranus, but if the seeing is even average you should see a a disc rarther than a bright star , in a dark sky you can see it with the naked eye, at about mag 5.7 it can be seen in 7X50 Bino's,get a chart out of Astronomy 2005 or The Sky or other programs, its quite easy in an eight inch, on the other hand Neptune is of a simular colour but much smaller and fainter and you will need a chart to find it, it to shows a disc and is not starlike. good hunting astroron :astron: :thumbsup:

[Greg Bryant]

Gazz,

I can point you to this concise (American) guide.
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1221_1.asp

In brief, Uranus is clearly a blob. Neptune distinguishes itself more easily under high magnification.

At brighter than 6th magnitude, Uranus is an obvious target for trying to sight with the naked-eye under dark skies. Neptune, at magnitude 7.8, ranks as a major challenge. Some observers are trying, but I've seen no successful reports yet.

Regards,

[iceman]

I haven't seen them yet either, but i'm planning to have a go this month.. but i'm going to use my DSC's, just need to make sure they're properly aligned first :)

[rmcpb]

What!! And take all the sport out of it :)

[stringscope]

Gazz,

In the past I have seen both in my 8" F6 Dob. I seem to remember at medium magnification (100-150ish) Uranus is clearly a small blue/grey disc. Your 9mm should give you 135X. I seem to recall Neptune needing at least 150X (the more the better) and is very small! I remember grey/blue.

Happy hunting,

[cahullian]

Thanks for the help ppl
I have been using sky view cafe for assistance. With my new found knowledge I will be determined to hunt the offending planets down.

Gazz

[cahullian]

I know pluto is also out there but I will leave that one alone for a while yet : )

[ving]

seen both in my 8". they are pretty tricky to hunt down. g/luck mr! :)

[atalas]

Hi dudes ,yes Ive seen both in a C8 before they are tricky to find but with 100x or so I could clearly make out disks .Keep chasing them Gazz and you will find them in your 8".
Next meet will hunt them down Gazz,as for Pluto ! at about 14mag you won't see It in an 8" I don't think.

Louie :innocent:

[asimov]

Hi Gazz. I found them both about 2 weeks ago, but not in one night. Fringe dweller (Kearn) posted a couple of charts here for me, which helped narrow the search down. But I ended up pin pointing them using my 'celestia' program. I found Neptune quicker to find than Uranus...only because I kept going out with the chart and basically learning the positions of the stars in the constellation that neptune was in until I was certain I knew the position of it. After dragging out the scope, I think it took all of 3 minute's to home in on it. I used my 6" achro refractor. At about 300X I certainly could distinguish it as a very small disc. Have a look here:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=2812 It may help you in your search.

[astroron]

Hi Gazz I observed both Planets about an hour and a half ago seeing was very good and both planets very crisp, but then I was using a 16" scope and a 13mm nagler.
the both objects are able to be easely observed in an 8"scope, use low power to find the field then when you think you have the planet use as much power as you can, they both show a conspicuas disc, but Neptune is much smaller..
Pluto is at 13.8 mag, your scope will go down to mag 14.5, but you will need a good upto date chart. Good hunting. astroron :astron: :stargaze:

[asimov]

Your a lucky devil to get to see them in a 16" scope! Can you see any detail on Uranus with such a scope astroron?

[cahullian]

Still couldn't find them last night but I will keep on trying.
I know where they are supposed to be but I still cant make them out. I have a 9mm with my Orion shorty plus x 2 barlow but still nothing like a disc as of yet.
I am a stubborn SOB so I will keep at it.

Thanks again for the help ppl

Gazz/Irish

[asimov]

It sounds like your at where I was....your looking, or seeing them, but not realizing your actually seeing them because you've not seem them before! lol. As you said in your first post?
Good luck....you'll eventually spot the little beggers!

[cahullian]

If I dont find them soon Louie and the others at the central coast viewing Aug 6 th will help me out. :poke: :confused:

[astroron]

Gazza, once you have seen them you won't forget what they look like and you will be able to point them out to others who are trying to find them for the first time.
Asamov (John) I have never tried to see detail in uranus, and Neptune is two small even in a 16", but I have seen two of the moons of uranus a couple of years ago, with the help of a proffessional astronomer who works on the Hubble Space Telescope and takes a lot of those great pictures of uranus and neptune you see in the magazines, I was then able to find them myself quite easely.
I have just come in from observing a 13.2 mag Asteroid called (508) Princetonia, Which next week will occult a 7.1 mag star in Scorpius, I hope to be able to observe it next wednesday at the Queensland Astrofest. Regards astroron :thumbsup: :astron: :stargaze:

[cahullian]

Thanks Astroron
I know what you mean. I can now quickly find lots of things in a few mins that used to take me ages to track down. I am stilla novice at this game and it will take a while to get the hang of things. I might be bitting off more than I can chew but I am still enjoyingthe hunt and when push comes to shove I can always look at the things I know I can find e.g hamburger galaxy. 47 tuc . omega cent. and so on.
Clear skies
Gazz

[asimov]

Keep taking your charts outside & comparing them to the sky mate! You'll find them eventually. My next project is finding Pluto. Eek! (If this weather ever clears up!?)

Thanks Astroron.

[rmcpb]

Spent a cold hour last night looking for Neptune with no luck. Probably saw it heaps of times when scanning but did not recognise it. Maybe I'll have to use the setting circles and take some of the sport out of it.

[ausastronomer]

Gaz,

I see Uranus more as a greenish grey disk than blue. Neptune is blue/grey. If you haven't found them before the 6th at Kulnura we will help you out. A medium/high power widefield eyepiece helps a lot in finding these when using a dob and starhopping. In your 8" about a 10mm eyepiece for 120X under good conditions (so actual star images are tight), should enable you to differentiate the planetary disks out fairly easily when you find them.

CS-John B

[cahullian]

Thanks ppl
I wont give up. I will keep looking. One thing I do know now it the constellations around that area of the sky lol I could make them out with a blindfold on.
Hopefully I will have found those pesky planets before the 6th Aug, but if not I would sure love some help in tracking them down. I should also have my new crayford focuser by then thanks to Louie. : ) I am like a kid a christmas time lol. Haven't been this excited since my wedding Night he he he

Clear Skies
GAzz/Irish

[slice of heaven]

Go Gazz.

And thats how you learn the sky :thumbsup:
Keep up the hunt, you know their there.

[cahullian]

Thanks mate I will

[cahullian]

I'm out tonight for about 5 hours straight weather permitting and I'm really hoping to hunt there planets down. I will go to the local AFL field as it is a lot darker there as I have a street light out the front of my house. Wish me luck as I think I'm going to need it lol

GAzz/Irish

[cahullian]

Headed out Saturday night to find the offending planets.But alas.... just got set up and was getting familiar with the night sky when I noticed about half a dozen blokes approaching me ( I was in the middle of the local aussie rules field ) being in a secluded area it didn't do my blood pressure any good. Then one of them yells out " what the ef are you doing."
"Just looking through my telescope" says I standing up arms apart and chest puffed out. (national geographic has alot to answer for).
To cut a long story short I never got to look for the planets(until much later) but the guys all had a good look at Omega centuri with the zoom lens ( one guy even said it looked like warp speed on the star ship enterprise. They all had a look at the jewel box, tuc 47 , ring nebula (they thought it was because they were drunk that they couldn't stop it looking fuzzie. lol ,eta carinae, dumbell nebula, centaurus A although only one of them could actually see this(not called faint fuzzies for nothing),split rigil kent,M6,M7,M15 They also had a field day with my lazer pointer trying to blind each other and every driver that passed. I must admit it was a relief to see them on their way (about 2 hours later). Then I started to look for those planets. Still couldn't find them and my finder was starting to due over.
Fixed that problem and as Mars started to get higher in the sky my new found friends came back and had a look at their first planet.
I then thought retreat was the better part of valour as they were really really drunk and those not looking through the scope were wrestling on the grass.
The good news was that I made a few new friends and the bad news is they want to come back again next week. Thank goodness next week is Anthonys place lol

Never a dull moment when looking up : )

Gazz

[asimov]

I had to find those 2 again all over again last night. The 1st time I found em' was from my front yard, using the refractor. Last night was from the back-yard using the newt. You wouldn't think it would make much difference, but I had a hard time & basically had to teach myself all over again the constellations & printing off another couple of maps.

[Iddon]

I take my hat off to you guys. That is persistance, and a great way to learn the sky.

[robin]

Ah the beauty of GOTO! I check 'em out every clear night.Uranus is easier on the eye than Neptune.....

[cahullian]

Still haven't found them but I'm not giving up

[asimov]

Cahullian. What magnification are you trying to find them at?

[asimov]

Robin, I like a challenge...goto for me would rob me of the pleasure & pain involved in finding objects like this. Everyone to their own though.

[cahullian]

whatever my 9mm works out to be. I see something that might be interesting and shove in my X2 barlow but still nothing that looks like a blue/grey or a green/grey blob
I think I'm up around the X220.

[atalas]

Gazz,I bet they've stared you in the face and you didn't know you were looking at them.

Louie :doh:

[cahullian]

I bet I've seen them a dozen times at least lol

[robin]

I too like a challenge John but when you only get clear night skies this time of year for a very short time,an hour or 2 at most, the benefits of GOTO are great.Our weather is very changeable so clear skies are precious.Goto this time of year,for me at least, means more time observing, less time searching.

[Iddon]

Now that I know what to look for, a 26mm EP (76x) allows me to pick them out easily.
133x works well (8", 2m F10 15mm EP). At this level they clearly stand out as a disc rather than a point source, and have a noteable blue/green tint respectively. With the 9mm (220x) they are real discs.

[cahullian]

I dont think I could find them if I had an entire night of viewing on venus lol

[asimov]

Oh yes, I agree.(Robin) I just figure (in my case at least) that seeing I've been doing it 20 odd years, & still not found everthing, there's no rush. lol It's just my way of thinking, dont worry about it man. If I had a goto 20 years ago, I would have sold it not long after I bought it, cos' I would have found everything there is to see with that scope....And forgot all about astronomy, & moved on to a new hobby! For me, no challenge = boredom. lol

[cahullian]

I've been at this for about 2 months now so if I dont find them this time round I'll get them one of these years

[gaa_ian]

I have found both with my 10' DOB, using a telrad & a printed chart marked with the telrad circles.
On other occasions I have been unsure if I have them in my sights, looking with an LX-90.
Worth the effort, at least for the first time find.

[cahullian]

I dont have a telrad but it sounds as though I should get one.

[asimov]

The only way I found these 2 objects was to have a really REALLY good star chart, showing every star down to a magnitude of at least 7...if it wasn't for that I'd be still searching. I'll see if I can find one for you..

[asimov]

pretty confusing using maps, for me at least, so I dont know if these will help you or not.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=2661

[cahullian]

:cloudy: Thanks john that detailed map will be a real help. All I need now is clear skies...:cloudy:

[asimov]

That's ok mate. I just want you to find them cos' I know how frustrated I was on the first night of looking for them!:doh: Let alone spending a month or so like you have.:scared:

[GrampianStars]

Uranus (mag 5.7). Visual with naked eye at a dark sky site
It's very easy to find as the planet lies during mid-August to mid-September just 0.5o from 3.6 magnitude Lambda Aquarii / λ Aqr
OPPOSITION : 01 September CONSTELLATION: Aquarius

Neptune (mag 7.9). readily seen with binoculars
in OPPOSITION : 08 August CONSTELLATION: Capricornus
Closest approach will be on 9th September size 14.7'
and 12th December, size 15.2'

get a chart for your location from here :
http://www.heavens-above.com/

[asimov]

Robert. What an excellent site!

[cahullian]

Thanks robert
next clear night I'm going to hunt these suckers down...
I hope lol

[cahullian]

I found those pesky planets.Between midnight and 1.30 am Not for the lack of trying I can tell you. The first one I spotted was Neptune, I wasn't too sure at first but after looking at a few other stars of the some magnitude and then going back to the planet I could easily see the difference in size.I located Neptune between the stars in Capricornus with the Greek l (with a bit of a squiggle, LOTA)and O(with a line through it,THETA) to the left and above the l(with a squiggle) star is another bright star (not sure of its name) there were three faint stars to the right and just below this star Neptune was the star on the lower right of these three.(I hope that makes sense) Not much colour apart from grey could be made out,sometimes I thought I could see a very very pale blue but I think that was wishful thinking. I was using my 9mm GSO plossl with my Orion shorty plus X2 Barlow that gave me roughly 250 magnification. Viewing was about 5/10 and and seeing was a bit better say 6 or 7/10. I started to do a little jig ( not a sight to be viewed by the faint hearted)
Then I went hunting for the other nasty (Uranus). This was the first time I really tried for this planet as Neptune was the one I was really after. With the information I got from the Universetoday and skyviewcafe I found Uranus within about 15 mins it was the third star to the lower left(right in my telescope, you know what I mean) of the Aquarius star with a Greek upside down y(LAMBDA) attached to it. This planet was a lot larger also looked grey but at times I could make out a very pale blue/green colour (it was flying past my FOV and it was nudge nudge all the time). This was the first time I had a good search for the planets when they were high in the sky. It made it a lot easier than trying to find them aroung 10 pm or so. After finding Uranus I started to dance to Depeche Mode's Waiting for the night to fall and Dream On this also wouldn't have been a pretty sight but I was so happy (If I didn't have a bad back I would have done cart wheels and back flips). By this time I was able to have a good look at Mars as it was well and truely on the rise. I couldn't make out much detail at all but it was bright and shiney and there was a hint of darker patches near the bottom right of the bubbling mass(wishful thinking again I think) All in all I thought it was the most exciting night I have had under the stars.

Gazz

[ausastronomer]

Great Work Gaz,

Thats exactly what they are both supposed to look like.

CS-John B

[cahullian]

Thanks mate. All the fun is in the chase he he he

[asimov]

Beaudy Gazza! About time eh? Congratulations. There's no better feeling than to finally get a nasty in your FOV...two in one night is even better!Well done.:thumbsup:

[cahullian]

Thanks John I couldn't have done it without the help and support of all you friendly people. It's good to be part of something that helps and encourages people to get out and have a go.
Now Pluto is the only planet left for me to find.
Somehow I dont think I will have much luck with my 8" might have to leave that one alone until I can upgrade to something bigger : )

[asimov]

I can't even find it with my 12.5"...But after saying that I'm positive that I've looked at it more than once but not recognized it. (sound familiar?) Could only be done with astrophotography over a period of days, then 'spot-the-dot-that-moves lol..

[cahullian]

yep. As I have a dob I would need to freehand draw what I saw and then hope I was looking in the right place, or else I would be drawing the same stars over and over again At mag +13.6-16.0 I will need to use a lot of imagination :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :ashamed:

[slice of heaven]

And thats exactly how I found Pluto.
It took a few good nights and commitment but I finally got him in the end. At the time though, Pluto was in a fairly empty starfield which made it easier.
Your 12" will pick it up John, give it a go.

[GrampianStars]

Congrats Gazza :drink:
I remember the first time in the 8" SCT 15mm super wide
I tracked the suckers for over an hour at the eyepiece
I swear the images of Uranus & Neptune seemed as big as Mars in the end

kept going back every night till the location was second nature

[cahullian]

Thanks Robert I plan on doing the same thing. Capricornus and Aquarius are very familiar constellations to me now.

[asimov]

I'm commited to a point...But not THAT commited! :rofl: I know I saw it in amongst the other stars in the FOV. I just can't confirm which lil' star was pluto lol. I'm happy to move on to another 'arch nemesis' now..:D

[mickal555]

A 6" refractor! Wow...

[cahullian]

I would love a 6"refractor but I may have to make do with a 4" from AOE for the next few years.
Gazz