Pluto Question

[middy]

Is there a website that will show the precise position of Pluto at a given time along with the surrounding star field?

I had a crack at Pluto on Friday night so I could finally complete my project to image all the planets in our solar system. I forgot to bring the drive with the image on though so I can't post it yet. I am not sure that I can actually see anything though. The only way to really tell will be to take another image and see what has moved.

The time was 28/5/2011 01:00 EST ( 27/5/2011 15:00 UTC ) just in case someone has a program that will produce a detailed star chart and they can help out.

cheers,
Andrew

[deanm (Dean)]

Pluto?! At visual magnitude 14, I'd be surprised if you could catch it!

In any case, Cartes du Ciel ( aka CdC) will reveal all:

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/start

Dean

[Rob_K]

Hope these might help Andrew, ephemeris position for that time generated on DSS image in Aladin. Scales marked on images - I would look for the bright star first (HIP90687), then find the little arc of stars and the pair near it (I've exaggerated them in blue). It's a pretty crowded field but hopefully Pluto will be there! Good luck.

Cheers -

[middy]

Originally Posted by deanm

Pluto?! At visual magnitude 14, I'd be surprised if you could catch it!

In any case, Cartes du Ciel ( aka CdC) will reveal all:

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/start

Dean

I do already use CdC but the catalogues I have don't go deep enough to show many stars. However I did only have version 2 of CdC and from your link I see they now have version 3 of CdC. So thanks for putting me onto that Dean. I will check out the new version.

Originally Posted by Rob_K

Hope these might help Andrew, ephemeris position for that time generated on DSS image in Aladin. Scales marked on images - I would look for the bright star first (HIP90687), then find the little arc of stars and the pair near it (I've exaggerated them in blue). It's a pretty crowded field but hopefully Pluto will be there! Good luck.

Cheers -

Thanks for those charts Rob, they are just what I was after. I will check them out tonight. Of course, it doesn't help that Pluto is smack bang in the middle of the Milky Way field at the moment, but I'll see how I go.

[middy]

OK, after studying the star charts provided by Rob. It looks like this might be Pluto marked by the yellow lines. The blue shaded stars are the same stars that Rob shaded on the star chart.

Can someone confirm my analysis and either say "Yep that's it" or "Mate, you're nuts to even think that's Pluto.

For the record, this image is a stack of 46 x 8 sec images using a DSI Pro on a 200 mm F6 Newt.

Excuse the ordinary background but I don't take flats and I let Iris take a best guess at removing the sky glow.

[Rob_K]

Well, it's gotta be Andrew - right brightness, no equivalent star in that position. But by the Starry Night ephemeris that's pretty much spot-on for 11pm on the 27th May.

EDIT: No,no,no, that's Pluto alright! Just checked the ephemeris on JPL's HORIZONS Web Interface and that's right where it should be at 1am EST on the 28th. Phew - don't know why Starry Night shows a difference. Only a tiny sliver, but must be something wrong.

Congratulations!

EDIT AGAIN: Added DSS pic, with ephemeris position from JPL marked, rotated to roughly match your shot.

Cheers -

[Clayton]

Robs the Man
Oh an sorry Andrew You's the Man too
Congratulations on a coverted catch under most difficult conditions

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Originally Posted by middy

O
Can someone confirm my analysis and either say "Yep that's it" or "Mate, you're nuts to even think that's Pluto.

The bestway to confirm a "kill" is to take another shot in a few days and spot the moving star! Always fun!
Richard

[middy]

Thanks everyone. I'm so happy. I've waited 4 years to reach the point where I could have a go at Pluto.



Pluto was the final missing piece in my "Image the Solar System" project after having got up early last month to fill in Mercury's space. I could put the project to bed now, but I think I can improve on my Uranus and Neptune images now that I have an EQ mount. Look out for the final Solar System image in the coming months.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Congrats, Andrew, I've observed Pluto visually several time about 20 years ago (back when it was "officially" a planet - and still is IMHO), but never captured on film or ccd. Well done!!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by bkm2304

The bestway to confirm a "kill" is to take another shot in a few days and spot the moving star! Always fun!
Richard

Even better, take an image each night for as many nights as the weather will allow and run them in animation shop
Watch Pluto move through the starfield