I have a Meade 125 ETX with UHTC Coatings. AutoStar is a must.
meade.com
>> I thought you had to have some pretty fancy equipment to see Uranus, let alone Neptune?<<
You could probably see Uranus, in a pitch black environment, with your naked eyes (at transit, probably around 1:00 AM), binoculars would definitely do it though. I'm observing right now about 20 miles from Downtown Denver. I go to a local State Park but still suffer from a lot of light pollution to my north (direction of Denver). Fortunately I was looking to the SouthEast for Uranus. Also, Uranus is brighter than Neptune, without my books here, I think Uranus is around Magnitude 5.8, Netune 7.0 Mag, or so. The biggest issue is knowing where to look if you don't have an autostar function with a telescope. Here's a detail chart for Uranus:
skyandtelescope.com
And read the article:
skyandtelescope.com
Binocular observation would require pretty dark skies AND a tripod to hold them, I don't think you could do it by just holding them, even with support.
Re: Binoculars. I was showing my neighbor the moons of Jupiter last spring with my scope, he was amazed how easy they were to see and then he wondered if he could see those moons with his binoculars. These were cheap 'noc's at best, and I told him that he probably could if he layed down on the lawn and was able to hold himself steady enough. Jupiter was pretty close to straight overhead, and he was able to see the moons pretty easily in this manner.
Next week I'll be up in Breckenridge, and can get to some pretty dark skies, so Neptune shouldn't be an issue. Pluto may out of capability for my scope though, I can observe mag 9 range near Denver, but I think Pluto comes in around mag 13. That's pushing it with this scope.
Enjoy the skies.
Jim |
