Guest Justin Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I was able to view Neptune on Tuesday at 11:30pm thereabouts. I acquired Enif (Pegasus) first, then dialed Aqr 57 (Aquarius) with the setting circles, checking with the finder scope for a final fix. For those that don't know, Neptune is 47" away from this star (about the width of the image at 50x) and is closest to Earth at the end of this month. Sure enough, a quick adjustment North East produced Neptune. Pale blue with a very small disk, increasing magnification was not a great improvement but it was enough to say I'd found Neptune. Planetarium software proving to be a great help here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 A good find, it's not an easy target to get being so small and starlike. But saying that, it's not disappointing even being so small, the colour and small disc gives it away and you have seen the furthest planet, something like 2.7 billion miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Nicely done, not managed that one myself yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Only managed neptune when had 10" sct. Nice find and description where it is, I like Martyns understated description of closest a mere 2.7 billion miles ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CodnorPaul Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 I got Neptune the other day too in my C8 - but I cheat with goto so well done on finding it without! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MichaelDurban Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I 'think' I got Neptune...with Stellarium.. My first time, went from Telrad to 25mm to 12.5 m to 8mm.. Small blueish circle with a slight haze... hope I got it right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Sounds like it. You can normally tell as it doesn't look like a star, and with power you can normally resolve to a disk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MichaelDurban Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 ah... equally exciting and.. disappointing.. haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Was out again early hours in search of Neptune, I used the moon for reference and then found the lambda Aqr star in Aquarius. Nepune is just to the right of this star but I couldn't confirm for sure if was looking right at it! I was using the 16mm (126x) and came across what appeared to be a faint blue dot, it didn't have the glare of a star. I gave up around 3:30 AM, but my efforts will pay off soon I hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hi Martin, sounds like you had it! It was just to the right of Hydor in Lambda (about 2 degrees away)... I wasn't out myself. Good luck with your hunting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Try increasing the magnification a little. It sounds like the right description but once to you resolve to a disk you will be sure that it is Neptune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hi Martin, sounds like you had it!It was just to the right of Hydor in Lambda (about 2 degrees away)... I wasn't out myself. Good luck with your hunting... Cheers. It's not a huge target, kinda hoping it was obvious as Saturn lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Try increasing the magnification a little. It sounds like the right description but once to you resolve to a disk you will be sure that it is Neptune. I only have the 16mm and the 10mm Hyperion and that's shaky to say the least when the scope is sat on my garden bench haha. A 13mm will soon be acquired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi Justin (and other Neptune spotters) Any sign of Triton ? You don't say what you are observing with, but i'm led to believe at Mag 13.5 its visible through a 12" scope. Maybe a 14-16" would be better ? Just wondered, as Neptune and Triton are both on my astro bucket list. Thanks, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 (edited) Just looked at one of my old reports this one mentions Triton. ****************** Meade Lightbridge 16" f4.5 FL1829mm24.07.09No moonSeeing mag 4.2Started observing at 23.00 hrs.Started in Vulpecula and of course the Dumbbell Nebula. M27 was the first planetary nebula to be discovered. It lies 1250 light years from Earth and gets it's name from the hour glass shape it exhibits. Tonight was no dissapointment it looked fantastic in my 21mm Hyperion at x87 . When I inserted the Baader O111 filter M27 came alive. The shape and structure was very evident and you could see exactly where it's name came from. Tonight was definetly the best I have ever seen it.Next stop was over to one of my favoutites the Double Cluster in Perseus. This is made up off two very close clusters of stars called NGC869 and NGC884. Together they cover about 60' x60' in area and are awash with so many different colours and sizes of stars. In my 21mm it's an amazing sight and with this eyepiece they just fit into the same field of view. Ngc869 looks the brighter of the two with a three bright blue stars while all the red stars are in Ngc884.Just to the left of the Double Cluster is NGC957 an open cluster 11x11' in size and shining at mag 7.6. The cluster consists of around 50 very dim stars. I estimate about mag 12. A fantastic sight in my 32mm TAL and as far as I can see a pretty much overlooked open cluster.Staying in Perseus I went hunting for the Little Dumbell or Butterfly Nebula M76. This is one very hard nebula to see, it is about 5x3' in size but is only mag 10 in brightness. I knew I was in the right area but just could not find it. I then decided to try the O111 filter and give the "blinking technique" a go as described by Carol. After a while I could detect a very slight mottling of the background area and decided to put the O111 on the eyepiece adapter and see what happens. Of course all the sky and background stars turned green but the the M76 emerged slightly, the actual shape could not be made out but the mottling of the sky was evident.Over to Pegasus next and onto M15. It is perhaps the densest of all the globular clusters in the Milky Way. It is also the only known globular cluster to contain a planetary nebula. M15 contains over 100 variable stars, which ranks it third for variables. It also contains 9 known pulsars. This cluster is 40,000 light-years distant, and with a visual magnitude of 6.2. In my 21mm Hyperion at x87 it makes a wonderful sight. It's very bright and large and has a much brighter and compact core. When my 8mm hyperion was inserted at x228 the cluster exploded into at least 80 stars but it's core still remained intact.Next onto M2 it is a globular cluster of stars located in the constellation of Aquarius. This cluster is located about 50,000 light-years from Earth. It is believed to be about 175 light-years in diameter. M2 is one of the brightest and largest globular clusters in the sky. In my 21mm I could detect a very bright cluster with a extremely dense compact core, around the outer edges of this globular I could detect a ring of seperarte stars maybe mag 12 in brightness. By inserting my 8mm Hyperion a similar reaction to M15 occured, it felt like I was submerged in stars but the core still remained intact.Next was my sole purpose for observing tonight and I waited until 00.30 to see Neptune. I had a quick look at Jupiter and it's four moons but used Jupiter as a starting point for my star hopping adventure via Mu Capricorn to Neptune. In fact it turned out pretty easy and Neptune was easily found. At only 2.5' in size and shining at Mag 7.8 it looks like a star in my 21mm Hyperion. But I increased the magnification to x228 by inserting my 8mm hyperion and the star like object turned into a disc with a slight hint of blue/green. Tried the 6mm ortho and at x304 it was just to much and the view was a bit hazy. The best view came at x146 with my 12.5 ortho the disk at this mag was unresolved but with this eyepiece I could just make out a couple of little pinpricks of light. One was very close to the disc, I estimate 3' away but I cannot be sure if this was actually a individual pinprick are a part of the disc, it was very hard to tell. The other pinprick was in the three o'clock position and at least 20' away from Neptune. It was fading in and out with seeing but I observed it for at least 15 minutes. At the time I had no idea how far Triton, one of Neptunes moons was away from it's parent. The next day I downloaded the Trition Tracker from SkyandTelescope website and it does show Triton at about the same place as I saw a pinprick of light so I'm at least a little more happy with my observation and a little more confident I saw Triton. It gives Triton's magnitude as 13.5 which is possible in my scope.Next over to Delphinus and to a really small Globular Cluster known as Ngc 6934. It shines at Mag 8 and has a size of 6'. In my 21mm hyperion it was unresolved, even in the 8mm hyperion at x228 it remained so, maybe a few of the outer stars but very hard to tell.It was by now 01.20 and I headed for Lacerta and a large open cluster called NGC 7209. it shines at mag 6 and covers an area of 25'. It is irregular in shape but has many bright stars. Quite a little gem and easily overlooked.My last object of the night was the Cocoon Nebula IC5146 in Cygnus. It's bright at mag 7 and covers an area of 12'x20' but tonight it did not appear for me. I tried the blinking method and also directly attached the O111 filter but to no avail. In normal vision it lies in a wonderful part of the sky. My 16" scope shows so many stars it's unreal and to take all this in is very hard to do. It looks great in my Baader Hyperion that does show coma so what will it look like in a 26mm Nagler, just say I cannot wait.Session ended at 01.45. Edited July 8, 2015 by Doc M. and +Bino-viewer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 That was a great night Mick, and a very informative report. I enjoyed reading that. 👌 They are virtually all in the same place now, ready to be looked at again. Neptune and Triton have moved less than 20 degrees, though Jupiter has moved on of course, (it was really close back then...). It would be good to re run that nights viewing next opportunity this month with your 120 ED and new Delos and Nagler eyepieces etc. I hope you have a think about that, it would make an interesting report 👠Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 That's a great idea Stephen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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