JShrum
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/14/07
Posts: 734
Loc: Bay City, MI, USA
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Last night was a wonderful viewing night here. The skies were dark, still, and pretty darn transparent for Michigan. After a friend and I had a good night of viewing DSOs and watching Jupiter a bit, we each picked an object to find and get the best view to share with the other. It was about 2am and I decided since I was in the area of the sky, to try to get a good look at Uranus. I had jokingly said that I was going to try to find the rings. Well, I didn't see any rings, but I could make out this little faint point of light at around 11:00 slightly away from the planet. It's funny, but right away I knew it was a moon and not just a faint background star. So we trained both scopes on the planet and studied it to try to be sure. Well, we weren't exactly sure that we could actually see a Uranus moon, so eventually we packed it in and called it inconclusive.
This morning I started thinking about it again and was just sure that it wasn't a star. I did a Google search on the moons of Uranus and came up with a Sky and Telescope utility and sure enough Titania!
Moons of Uranus
This is definately a first for me as I didn't even know you could see them. I'll be trying this more often...I like the thought of being able to see something besides the blue disk of that planet.
What a challenge, and what fun! 
Clear Skies...
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Jeff Shrum
Bay City, MI
CPC 1100 XLT
WO 2" Crayford 2-speed Focuser
OPT 2" Dielectric Diagonal
Sunset Astronomical Society
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backwoody
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/08/07
Posts: 903
Loc: Idaho USA
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Great work, Jeff. I'm a bit envious...and will keep trying!
I suspect all it takes is a dark night, some good seeing, and a little luck. 
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woody
a parsec farther out...
12.5" f/4.8 custom truss dob, EQ platform
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4312
Loc: Inner Solar System
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I saw two moons one night in my 14", I'm sure you could get them in your 11".
Check out Neptune and Triton, too!
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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tigerroach
sage
Reged: 08/13/08
Posts: 315
Loc: Houston, TX
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Nice catch!
I won't bother to try that with the 4". 
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Brian
TeleVue TV-102, Gibralter alt-az mount
Webster 14.5" f/4.3 truss dob *under construction*
Canon 10x30 IS binocs
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JShrum
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/14/07
Posts: 734
Loc: Bay City, MI, USA
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Thank you everyone...
I'll be trying for that second one...must be Ariel or Oberon, and Triton around Neptune Rick. I had no idea you could see them. I don't get a whole lot of nights as perfect as we've seen in the last week, but that was incredibly fun!
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Jeff Shrum
Bay City, MI
CPC 1100 XLT
WO 2" Crayford 2-speed Focuser
OPT 2" Dielectric Diagonal
Sunset Astronomical Society
Edited by JShrum (09/03/08 05:48 AM)
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kroum
super member
Reged: 08/28/08
Posts: 166
Loc: Bay Area, CA
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Do you guys know if it is possible to see Titania in a 10in?
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bcuddihee
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/04/06
Posts: 935
Loc: Cincinnati Ohio
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I saw titania in my 8se last evening under very good conditions.
bc
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B Cuddihee
On the quest to find the best for the least!
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1968 Jason Empire 60X700mm refractor (my buddy from way back)
Celestron Nexstar8SE(a remarkable 8" grab and go)
Feathertouch Microfocuser
Stellarvue 50mm "Sparrowhawk" finder
Denk bino's with Power x switch
Pair of 26m Celestron Silvertop Plossls
Pair of Smart Astronomy 19 EF's
Pair of Smart Astronomy 16 EF's
Agena 38 SWA
Agena 26 SWA
Garrett 2" 2x ED Barlow
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kaaikop
sage
Reged: 07/13/08
Posts: 468
Loc: Ste-Therese, Canada
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Wow this is really cool! 
I actually had never even tried Uranus so far...
Will sure give it a shot next time the conditions are good.
Do you remember what mag. you were using?
Thanks for sharing the link as well!
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Benoit, RASC Montreal
-C 9.25XLT on EQ6 Pro / ED80SF on Portamount
-Plossls, Radians, Naglers, LVW's & Orthos.
-a pair of 7x50's
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bcuddihee
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/04/06
Posts: 935
Loc: Cincinnati Ohio
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I'm not sure at what x I found it...probably at around 120x, but I then used a 7mm UOHD ortho for approx 300x. It was a nice round sphere with a blue tint..not starlike. Titania, was visible as well. Pushed it to 600x and the view was still very good.
bc
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B Cuddihee
On the quest to find the best for the least!
--------------------------
1968 Jason Empire 60X700mm refractor (my buddy from way back)
Celestron Nexstar8SE(a remarkable 8" grab and go)
Feathertouch Microfocuser
Stellarvue 50mm "Sparrowhawk" finder
Denk bino's with Power x switch
Pair of 26m Celestron Silvertop Plossls
Pair of Smart Astronomy 19 EF's
Pair of Smart Astronomy 16 EF's
Agena 38 SWA
Agena 26 SWA
Garrett 2" 2x ED Barlow
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JShrum
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/14/07
Posts: 734
Loc: Bay City, MI, USA
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You're welcome for the link...I don't remember exactly what I was using, but I use my 17mm T4 Nagler quite a bit in the 1100 and it was probably seen at least first in it. That would be around 165x.
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Jeff Shrum
Bay City, MI
CPC 1100 XLT
WO 2" Crayford 2-speed Focuser
OPT 2" Dielectric Diagonal
Sunset Astronomical Society
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Ed Kessler
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/17/06
Posts: 749
Loc: Millersburg, PA
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Cartes du Ciel will also do the same thing as the S&T javascript. Pretty cool . . . .
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Ed Kessler
sic itur ad astra (Just to look profound!)
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WadeVC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 2799
Loc: Lodi, California,
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I have managed to observe the moons around both planets as others here have...and yes, it is indeed extremely cool to see the moons of these two distant planets.
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Orion XTi10 f/4.7
Orion XTi8 f/5.9
Meade NGC 70mm f/10
Orion UltraView 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
My Sketch Gallery
My Astronomy Blog
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.
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stevek
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/16/06
Posts: 1229
Loc: west michigan
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Sweet thread! I didnt know I could hit these in my 8". Added to my 'to-do' list....
Thanks for the info folks.
Steve
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DSO 8" f6 DOB w/ 8x50 RACI & 2"Crayford
1958 Sears Discoverer 76mm Refractor
GSO SV 30mm 2",21mm Hyp,13mm Strat,BO/TMB ver2-6mm & 4mm
1.25"Filters: DGM-NPB, 25%ND
1.25" plossls: 25mm,20mm,15mm,9mm
Orion 2X Shorty Barlow
Garrett Gemini LW 11x56mm binocs
BTG-10 4.0mW green laser pointer
"What is that burning in the sky? Tell me y'all..." Jeff Beck/Jan Hammer
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Bill Weir
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 894
Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada
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Quote:
I'm not sure at what x I found it...probably at around 120x, but I then used a 7mm UOHD ortho for approx 300x. It was a nice round sphere with a blue tint..not starlike. Titania, was visible as well. Pushed it to 600x and the view was still very good.
bc
120X sounds a little low in power for these two. The separation between the planet and the moon are rather tight. It takes magnification to move the moons far enough out from the glow of the planet.
Here is how Titania and Oberon looked, (along with Uranus) a year ago as viewed through my 12.5" dob at 660X (6mm Radian & 2.5X Powermate. The grey blush arough Uranus is to show the glow of the planet.
Bill
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6'' Orion SkyQuest
12.5'' f/5 Custom Truss Dob
William Optics 80mm ZenithStar II ED Doublet
f/5 25" newtonian on a giant GEM, any time I want
Observing sessions grand total for 2007, 171.
So far in 2008, 115
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