Popular Post +Bino-viewer Posted December 4, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2018 Heads up : Anyone who is after 'bagging' Neptune.......you have a great opportunity this coming Friday evening. From dusk if its clear, if you look south / south west you will see Mars shining brightly. An easy target. But a scope set up around 18:00hrs will reveal the outermost planet Neptune just 6 arc minutes to the red planets lower right ? Closest conjunction separation will occur at around 14:00hrs when they will be a mere 2 arc minutes apart !! So the earlier you can get out, the closer they will be. For two planets to be this close together in the night sky is very unusual. For the record the Lunar disc is around 30 arc minutes, half of 1 degree, so 6 arc mins is one fifth the width of the moon. They should both be easily accommodated in a high power eyepiece at the same time ! I will have the Dob on them, and will try to grab a quick image if i can. Also i'll see if i can bag Triton, but at Mag +13.4 and with my shocking light pollution, probably wishful thinking ! ? I've only seen Neptune the once.....up at Belper a couple of years ago. I thought it looked a bit odd.....very faint and a bit grey / blue in colour and certainly non-stellar. More below via the link, courtesy of 'Astronomy Now' https://astronomynow.com/2018/12/02/see-mars-get-very-close-to-neptune-at-dusk-on-7-december/?utm_source=Astronomy+Now+Newsalert&utm_campaign=99ff1a87b7-AN-NewsAlert-8-June-2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e789188a36-99ff1a87b7-175998805&mc_cid=99ff1a87b7&mc_eid=48f89cc19d tuckstar, +RonC, Bottletopburly and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Wow, didn't see that coming! Thanks for the heads up Rob. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 Good shout Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Didn't bother draging out the scope as the conditions are not great but did see Neptune in my 10x50 bins. I say saw but it is just on the limit of what I can see. The star HD217626 near Neptune was invisible to me at mag 8.5 but Neptune at mag 7.9 was just visible. BAZ, Tweedledee and Bottletopburly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 I take it looking at Mars , Neptune at 8.30 was at 5oclock , spotted in 15x70 Binoculars, I would have struggled to find that visually if it wasn’t for mars Tweedledee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Yes David it was approximately 17.00 position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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