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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2758 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 7, 2016

16" Newtonian Dob with all the motors and GOTOs. We used Stellarium to verify the star field, looked at said star field and said "the fuck are we doing, again?" Then we looked at Neptune with the same scope and eyepiece to get a view of Triton. Triton is almost the exact same size, colour and brightness as Pluto. Now with the better idea of what we were looking for, we went back to Pluto and are 70/30 we saw it. Two other guys are 100%, but I like to think I know better.

The only way to be sure is to go back the next day and look again for a faint tiny ass star that moved, but sadly I have work and can't pull that off. Maybe next month we will try again and see if there is anything different. Pluto is near opposition, and there is a star party next month at new moon. At the party, looking at Stellarium, Pluto will pass a star roughly the same brightness from the beginning of the evening to the middle of the night, so we can watch it move and get more eyes on it.





kleinbl00  ·  2757 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Either you guys have much darker skies than mountainous New Mexico or y'all are serious.

I'm impressed.

user-inactivated  ·  2757 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ohio valley skies suck 100 out of 365 days a year. Another 100 days out of the year the skies are mediocre to below average. Another 100 days are worth pulling out the big scopes, but don't expect to do the hard core stuff. Then you have to hope that the moon is not in the sky; the moon is bright and annoying when looking at galaxies and very faint stuff. We had 3-4 in a row that did not suck, bordering on best of the year. We are more serious than average and seek out the insane challenges. I'm still trying to get the weather and skies to align to see more of the Palomar Globulars which should be doable with 16" dobs. I've seen Palomar 9. There is a whole observing program for stuff like that and a few of us are running down the lists.

I'd love, LOVE to be in New Mexico for the week surrounding New Moon in either Spring for the Virgo galaxies or early Winter for the Orion stuff. I've been observing in California at 8000 feet and ho-lee-shit. It is about as close as a religious experience as I am capable of. I could not make out most of the constellations as there were too many stars.

kleinbl00  ·  2757 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Meet you there.

http://www.jdvstudio.com/Photography/USAStates/NewMexico/NewMexicoSkies/NewMexicoSkies.html

I grew up with constellations you can't make out. Shit got a lot easier once I moved.