Last night around 2:30 while checking out various DSOs while my imaging rig was running, I happened to notice that both Uranus and Neptune were in pretty decent placement to view as I was swiping around Stellarium on my phone. I did a pretty long star hop starting in Pegasus and ending up at Neptune, just outside Aquarius.
Wow! While still very small in my 8" dob with ES82 11mm, the color of Neptune was incredible. Brilliant deep blue. Much richer color than any blue stars I've seen. I could faintly make out the disc of the planet, and could confidently say it was not just a point source of light. My skies had a little bit of high level haze, so I didn't try for a high magnification.
Next I turned east to track down Uranus. After another star hop, I had it clearly in my eyepiece. Wow again! This one had a much more distinct disc to it, clearly not a star. The other dead giveaway was the pale green hue. Reminded me of some planetary nebulae. Absolutely beautiful staring deeply at Uranus. I'm fairly certain I could pick up Ariel as well. I'm sure I could have seen other moons if I had realized where they were and tried identifying.
I think it's so amazing that with fairly amateur gear, I can directly observe these incredibly distant planets from my backyard. And of course my wife and I had some fun laughs about me looking at Uranus last night.
Clear skies all!