I'm sure the topic of observing Pluto has come up many times, but it's a slow day here in the Great White North...
My daughter has an 8" Dob and very much enjoys planetary astronomy. Her big lament is that she's never seen Neptune. I'll see if I can get her out observing this winter to see it, and if not, for sure next fall we'll get it (I believe it's a tough object to locate over the summer this year).
Which brings me to the topic of my post. I realized during our conversation that I've observed all 9 official planets in my lifetime. What I mean by that is that I've observed Pluto prior to it's "demotion" in 2006. So when I observed it (in the early 2000's) it was still a planet. And of course I've viewed Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Although my observations of Earth are a little sketchy...
I'd have to check my logs, but I think it was the summer of 2001 and I used my Meade 10" Starfinder Dob to track Pluto down over 3 successive nights and noted the motion of it compared to the background stars. I remember being super stoked the first night when I figured out I had viewed it, and then I was even more stoked the next night when I saw it had moved and confirmed my observation.
So, how about you? Have you viewed Pluto? What do you recall of the experience? Did you do it before it got "demoted"? (I barely squeaked in!)
Clear skies!
Rick