Time: 6:00 AM
Brief
Yesterday I talked about the unaided-eye planets, while today, I will mention the more distant planets: Uranus and Neptune--both gas planets as Jupiter and Saturn are, yet about half the diameter of each respectively. Uranus is just past conjunction and Neptune is barely visible above the horizon before dawn skies wash it out. Uranus will be more easily visible by late spring, while dimmer Neptune is far enough separated from the Sun to see before that.
Detailed
A 6 or 8-inch telescope referring to the primary mirror diameter (or lens for refractor telescopes) is recommended when trying to find Neptune, although it will look like just a dim star. In about a month, when it rises about two hours earlier than now, it will be a little higher before the Sun's light. It is best of course, to view Neptune near the time of its transit, which will be more easily visible with no Sun glare this summer and fall: transit is the highest that we see a star, planet, Moon, etc. when looking directly north or south (declination depending). The more north in celestial latitude that a body is, up to the equivalent of our global latitude, the higher we see it in the sky. I will get into transits more tomorrow. First, I will show a star not far from Uranus which is bright enough to help guide us to it. The star marks the tail of Capricornus, the Sea Goat, and named Deneb Algiedi. At less than 9º from Neptune, the planet was alot closer to Neptune a couple years ago, when passing from Capricornus to Aquarius. The star is magnitude 2.8, so can be seen briefly this morning with clear skies with binoculars.
The first image shows Deneb Algiedi and Neptune zoomed out, while the second image shows Neptune alone zoomed in with a 1º field. Although this indicates a zoom-in of about 50x, Neptune at over 2 billion miles away looks just like a tiny dot. How easily can you see it?
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| *click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp. |
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