Pluto anyone?

[jrkirkham]

Has anyone observed Pluto? I am thinking about trying to locate it by taking a picture of its coordinates on three consecutive, moonless nights. Does that seem reasonable? I wasn't sure if it would move fast enough to identify in a single night. I thought it might move out of the FOV if I spread it out much longer. It is much like the technique I have used before on asteroids, though they are brighter and move faster.

[Lady Fraktor]

I did a observation a few years ago over 3 nights for confirmation.
Somewhere I have a site link to locating Pluto currently and then over successive nights.
If I find it I will post the link.

Good luck, it can be challenging

[notFritzArgelander]

I observed Pluto in the early 1970s with a 16” Classical Cassegrain and a very thoroughly prepared finder chart.

[KathyNS]

I haven't tried observing Pluto through an eyepiece. I did, however, image it one time. It is like a dim star. In 24 hours, it moves just enough that you can tell, comparing images from one night to the next, that it has moved. No worries about it moving out of the FOV. You would at minimum want to sketch its position relative to nearby stars so that you could compare its position the next night.

[Bigzmey]

I have observed it a few years ago with 8" SCT. It is definitely within a grasp of your scopes.

[Unitron48]

Observed it last year. Check out my thread: viewtopic.php?p=160859&hilit=pluto#p160859.

Dave

[sdbodin]

Chased it down a couple times but only once visually with the BigDog 16. Checked my archives and found this from 2010 summer as Pluto was near dark nebula B92, obviously I had a detailed finder chart, can't remember where it was published, but his kind of thing is necessary. Shot with 30 minutes of OSC Starshoot thru my AT80LE in five minute subs.

Go for it,
Steve

Number nine forever!!

[notFritzArgelander]

Chased it down a couple times but only once visually with the BigDog 16. Checked my archives and found this from 2010 summer as Pluto was near dark nebula B92, obviously I had a detailed finder chart, can't remember where it was published, but his kind of thing is necessary. Shot with 30 minutes of OSC Starshoot thru my AT80LE in five minute subs.

Pluto_B92_At80f6small.jpg

Go for it,
Steve

Number nine forever!!

Well….. at least 9, maybe 10. I’m old enough to still be smarting at Ceres demotion!

[jrkirkham]

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. Now I'm hunting some clear nights to give hunting Pluto a try.

[Richard]

I think so but as mentioned one needs to observe over a period of a few days to confirm it , I have not done that , but its must of been one of the faint stars when I was on our previous game farm , no chance at home

[Bigzmey]

I think so but as mentioned one needs to observe over a period of a few days to confirm it , I have not done that , but its must of been one of the faint stars when I was on our previous game farm , no chance at home

That, or you can use detailed map showing all stars down to mag 15 (like SkySafari Pro) to ID it in the star field.

[Lady Fraktor]

Here is the link I mentioned Rob, hopefully it will help
https://theskylive.com/pluto-tracker

[dcrowson]

I've never visually seen pluto. I'm sure it is a real challenge. The idea of charts down to mag 15 sounds like the best idea along with trying to catch it when in a favorable field - be it less stars, etc.

I imaged pluto through retrograde motion back in 2016 with a 12" RC. Here's the composite of the movement over a couple months (19 clear nights):



Dan

[AstroBee]

I've never visually seen pluto. I'm sure it is a real challenge. The idea of charts down to mag 15 sounds like the best idea along with trying to catch it when in a favorable field - be it less stars, etc.

I imaged pluto through retrograde motion back in 2016 with a 12" RC. Here's the composite of the movement over a couple months (19 clear nights):



Dan

THAT is a fantastic project showing the retrograde motion over that period. Congrats on that.
Good luck to the OP in your endevours.