Miranda, Miranda, Miranda – where for art thou?????

[Dennis]

Hello,

Well, last night I had my annual bash at trying to record Miranda, one of the fainter satellites of Uranus. I have previously succeeded recording the 4 brighter satellites, being Titania, Umbriel, Ariel and Oberon but Miranda has always eluded me.:(

Alas, last night was no different although with the smoke laden skies of Brisbane, I didn’t really expect her to reveal herself.:shrug:

Details:

Tak Mewlon 180 F12 with WO x2.5 Barlow operating at F30 (5400mm efl), SBIG ST2000XM ccd camera.
The image is a stack of 15 exposures of 180 secs to help punch through the smog.
I then overlaid a mask to reduce the smearing and bloating of the planet, moons and stars and borrowed the colour of Uranus from a previous RGB effort.

I have also attached a single Raw frame and a couple of screen prints for information purposes.

Cheers

Dennis

Data:
Uranus in Pisces, Magnitude: 5.73, Size: 3.7"

Satellites:
Name Mag PA° Sep"
Ariel 14.4 340.5 13.3
Umbriel 15.0 348.3 18.6
Titania 13.9 342.2 31.2
Oberon 14.1 160.2 40.6

Current Status:
Earth Distance: 19.1 AU
Sun Distance: 20.1 AU

Diameter: 51118.0 km

On September 26, 2011 Uranus will be at opposition when it will be best observed at magnitude 5.7 and subtending 3.7"

[StephenM]

Hi Dennis,
I'm amazed you picked up the 4 moons in this image, given how much smoke there is at the moment! Without the visibility problems you would have had a good chance of capturing Miranda I think.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Quark]

With you on its case I reckon its just a matter of time before you hunt down Miranda Dennis, a top effort anyway.

Regards
Trevor

[von Tom]

Fantastic images Dennis. Hope the smoke clears soon!

[icytailmark]

you might need to use a 5x PowerMate to really maximise your Focal Length

[Clayton]

Nice result Dennis

[SkyViking]

Great effort Dennis and a very nice image. I'm sure you'll bag it one day :) I just checked a Uranus image I've got from 2006 and there's no Miranda there either, only the four others. It must be very elusive, but that just makes it more exciting :D Good luck with your hunt.

[John Hothersall]

Those are imaculate Uranus images with a perfect green disc, I have wanted Miranda too but she's faint at 16th mag, but you've imspired me to try next time.

John.

[h0ughy]

Dennis - when are you going to buy the 30' dob with tracking so you can get this ;) ? fantastic effort and presentation

[Dennis]

Thank you Stephen, Trevor, Tom, Mark, Rob, Rolf, John and David for your comments.:)

Trevor, Rolf & John – if anyone can capture this elusive maiden you guys are the man!:thumbsup:

H0ughy – now that would make it too easy! Half the fun is that I think this may just be feasible with my current set up if everything comes together!;)

Cheers

Dennis

[Ric]

Fantastic images Dennis.

Even with smoky skies your achieving some amazing images.

[Dennis]

Thanks Ric - ironically the smog seemed to contribute to the steadiness of the local skies!

Cheers

Dennis

[rogerg]

Great stuff Dennis, great achievement to have the moons you have. Must be very rewarding having a nice project like that to work on and edge closer to the next goal.

[mswhin63]

Well done on this, looking at the CCD Soft image I think you ma have caught it but hidden behind the smearing of the planet itself ( I am only considering the symmetry distortion of Uranus capture).
Difficult task to achieve. well done especially on hazy conditions.

[Dennis]

Thank you Roger and Malcolm, I appreciate your comments.:)

Malcolm - the CCDSoft screen capture in the original post has been auto stretched (default setting), so that the light from Uranus in the 180 sec exposure is essentially “hiding” Ariel.

Here is a manually stretched screen capture toning down Uranus and indicating the approximate position of Miranda.

Cheers

Dennis

[mswhin63]

Thanks for the explanation. I suppose you will get there one day. Good luck with it.

[Shiraz]

Impressive work Dennis. Regards Ray

[Paul Haese]

Nice Dennis. I like the colour of Uranus. The scale is pretty good too. I really must give this planet a shot. Anthony tells me that there have been possible markings available to image with some southern storms present of late.

I really like your presentation too, well done.

[Dennis]

Hi Paul

One of the few amateur astronomers that I know of who have managed to record Miranda, is Paolo Lazarotti and his fine image can be seen here.

http://www.lazzarotti-hires.com/category/outer

Although he is using one of his specialised, long focal length planetary ‘scopes, a 315mm Cassegrain with a Luminera Infinity 2-1M ccd, I figured I might just get away with a mere 180mm of aperture using the more sensitive, cooled ST2000XM.

I think that Miranda’s orbit keeps it to within less than 10 arc secs from Uranus making it such a difficult target.:shrug:

I would be very interested to see what you could achieve with your gear and planetary imaging skills!;)

Cheers

Dennis