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Davidgojr
member
Reged: 08/09/08
Posts: 58
Loc: San Antonio, TX
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I just came in from a great night of observing. Both the seeing and the transparency were simply awesome. I started by observing the Andromeda galaxy and the double-double stars before I decided to try to find Uranus and Neptune. I have seen all of the other full fledged planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and I wanted to see if I could observe the remaining 2.
I loaded up Stellarium on my computer and used it as a guide to star hop over to Uranus. At a low power I could make out its distinctive blue disk. I then upped the power to 320x and the view was amazing. It appeared as a well defined blue disk floating through the darkness of space. It was incredible and I continued observing it for some time before trying for Neptune.
Neptune was considerably harder to locate and I had to run inside a number of times to check Stellarium so that I could star-hop. After awhile I finally located it. It appeared as a very faint blue dot under low power. I then bumped up the magnification to 320x and the disk became apparent. It was much smaller in disk diameter than Uranus was and it was also much dimmer. It seemed to have a similar blue hue to it as well.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how well I could see both of these planets. I had always assumed before that I wouldn't see as much of them as I did through my 6 inch scope. They made for spectacular sights to see in the night sky and I look forward to seeing them again!
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San Antonio, TX
Orion XT6
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astro_anthro
member
Reged: 03/05/08
Posts: 54
Loc: Reno, NV
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Hi David, nice report. I also found Uranus and Neptune last night using Stellarium. I had been trying for several nights to no avail. Last night I decided to try using the program--made it easy. Clear skies!
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Tom N.
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JShrum
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/14/07
Posts: 734
Loc: Bay City, MI, USA
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Congratulations on the finds! Sounds like you had a very successful night of observing. They are beautiful to see.
With goto, they're relatively easy to find for myself, but recently I've been introduced to finding their moons, and that is extremely fun to try when the conditions support it.
Clear Skies everyone...unfortunately not happening for me right now! 
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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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physik
sage
Reged: 10/14/07
Posts: 204
Loc: Wichita Falls, TX
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Uranus should be right under the moon tonight, so I'm hoping to finally be able to find it. A few weeks ago I thought I had found Neptune, but no luck.
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Wes
Celestron C9.25 S-GT XLT SCT
Orion AstroView 100mm Refractor
Orion Skyquest XT 6" Dobsonian
nightShifted Astronomy - http://nightshifted.howarddarkes.com
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Dylan Gladstone
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/05/07
Posts: 955
Loc: Connecticut, USA
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I saw Neptune for the first time last night through a 10" Newtonian. It looked like a small, pale blue dot. I'm going to try to catch Uranus and Neptune with my Mak tonight.
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Orion SkyView Pro 127mm Maksutov
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Tenby2
member
Reged: 05/06/08
Posts: 12
Loc: Essex England
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I pretty sure I saw Uranus for the first time on Sunday using my 8se but as you'd expect only as a faint pale dot. A definate disc though! Well I was pleased.
Pleased one night was cloud free.
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8SE a few filters and eps!
Still an astronomical virgin!
Mark
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steveoid
sage
Reged: 02/10/08
Posts: 426
Loc: London,England
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Mark, I tried to mail you a while back but you have your mail switched off. Steve
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Celestron C8
120mm ED Pro refractor.
80mm ED Pro refractor (solar observing)
Baader Herscel wedge.
Quantum 6- X20,X30 & X37 100MM binoculars.
Helios 10.5 x 70mm HD binoculars
Heq5 Pro mount.Eye pieces
Celestron ultima 2x barlow.
Numerous eyepieces.
FR/FC lens 6.3 Celestron.
2" WO Dielectric.
1/1/2" WO Dielectric.
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rocco13
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/29/06
Posts: 1550
Loc: Phoenix, Arizona
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I also found these two last night, the first time I'd seen them in over a year. Sky conditions weren't great, and my southern skies are horribly light polluted, so it was difficult to locate the east end of Capricornus for my starting point. But once I was sure the star I was looking at was Deneb Algedi, it was easy to hop the three stars to the north, and then west to Neptune. I pushed my C8 to 254x, but conditions made the image a little soft, so I backed off to 156x. Either way, I wasn't going to see much more than a tiny bluish disk, but it was a disk nonetheless.
Uranus was easy to locate also. Once agan, the hardest part in my lousy skies was finding the relatively faint stars of Aquarius as my starting point. Could barely detect Phi Aquarius with the naked eye, but in my 8x50 finder it was easy. Just a few nudges east and there was the seemingly much larger disk of Uranus. A friend of mine claimed to have seen several moons of Uranus (or was it Neptune?) in his 10 inch, so I was hoping I might spot one or two, but it was not meant to be, as neither the seeing nor transparency were very good last night.
But still, it was rewarding seeing these two distant planets again.
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Rocco
Super C8 (1984 vintage)
Celestron 102 f/5
and a cheap pair of binoculars
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steveoid
sage
Reged: 02/10/08
Posts: 426
Loc: London,England
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Mark, you need to go to my home (top right hand side of this page) then tick personnel information and in your mail box tick the receiving mail box to accept incoming mail.This is found at the bottom of the page called Accept private messages from other users? Steve.
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Celestron C8
120mm ED Pro refractor.
80mm ED Pro refractor (solar observing)
Baader Herscel wedge.
Quantum 6- X20,X30 & X37 100MM binoculars.
Helios 10.5 x 70mm HD binoculars
Heq5 Pro mount.Eye pieces
Celestron ultima 2x barlow.
Numerous eyepieces.
FR/FC lens 6.3 Celestron.
2" WO Dielectric.
1/1/2" WO Dielectric.
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planetman83
member
Reged: 09/17/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Greece-Crete
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Congratulations. Uranus is a very beautiful planet. I want to mention that you forgot Pluto. It is a planet too and I think you can see it with averted vision under a dark sky with your 6" scope.
I have seen it with the 8" easier than I though.
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