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After getting advice from a number of people I decided to wait for some clear nights and locate Pluto over a three-night period. I used a 6.3 focal reducer in my C11 to speed up the scope. I couldn't see much through the eyepiece and opted for a camera. I used my Canon 80D. The picture was noisy, but I didn't care. A pretty picture wasn't my goal. I used my planetarium programs, but the source I found most useful was https://theskylive.com/where-is-pluto. When it came time to find Pluto I focused first on Saturn's moon Titan. It was in the same general portion of the sky and was easy to focus on. I then swung over to Pluto's location and took a series of photos. I settled on individual frames with ISO of 3200 and exposure of 30 seconds. I then swung over to M75. I did this just to make sure where Pluto might be in my frames. M75 was the closest named object to Pluto. I did this for three nights.
I used two different methods for identifying Pluto. The easiest was printing an inverted copy of my pictures. That was the easiest way to compare my pictures with the charts and with each other. I first started to toggle frames back and forth to look for slight movement that was different in one star. I kept imagining different stars to be Pluto. By printing off inverse sheets I could form a clear triangle with Pluto as one of the corners. The change in the triangle shape made movement clear. I new which light was Pluto on the second night, but came back the third for verification.
Anyway, to make a long story less boring, here is my final shot.
Attachments
Rob Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
I also have made an APOD suggestion for your post, which IMHO it is well worthy of.
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Well done Rob. Pluto is a truly challenging object. I last observed it a few years back with my 12 inch. Whether visually or photographically it takes great care to ascertain you have identified the correct "star" in the field as Pluto. Michael's suggestion for an APOD is spot on!
Alan
Scopes: Astro Sky 17.5 f/4.5 Dob || Apertura AD12 f/5 Dob || Zhumell Z10 f/4.9 Dob ||
ES AR127 f/6.5 || ES ED80 f/6 || Apertura 6" f/5 Newtonian
Mounts: ES Twilight-II and Twilight-I
EPs: AT 82° 28mm UWA || TV Ethos 100° 21mm and 13mm || Vixen LVW 65° 22mm ||
ES 82° 18mm || Pentax XW 70° 10mm, 7mm and 5mm || barlows
Filters (2 inch): DGM NPB || Orion Ultra Block, O-III and Sky Glow || Baader HaB
Primary Field Atlases: Uranometria All-Sky Edition and Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
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"Astronomers, we look into the past to see our future." (me)
"Seeing is in some respect an art, which must be learnt." (William Herschel)
"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." (Sir Isaac Newton)
"No good deed goes unpunished." (various)
“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” (Scarecrow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
One other method that could help with the pictures would be to use a paint program that has different types of blend modes. Pasting each on top of the other with a blend mode of lighten would bring it out.
dcrowson wrote: ↑Sat Aug 20, 2022 1:27 pm
Really nice and great effort.
One other method that could help with the pictures would be to use a paint program that has different types of blend modes. Pasting each on top of the other with a blend mode of lighten would bring it out.
Dan
Thank you for the suggestion. That's a good idea.
Rob Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
Hi Rob. Wow, this nice image of the Pluto orbit track took a lot of effort and determination. With an average magnitude of only 15 and successive imaging on three nights in a row (weather and sky permitting) you came away with an excellent composite capture. Thanks for sharing this work with us on here Rob and I third the nomination for a TSSAPOD Award.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.
Well done. I have thought of trying this so thank you for showing! It also gives an idea of the challenge it would be for me with my Mewlon (180 & circa F10 with reducer). I think would need to track for at least 90 secs; I will need to get my guiding a bit better than it is now as a first step!
Congratulations on the APOD.
Telescopes: Takahashi TSA120; Genstar 10" (Barry Arnold optics), Skywatcher ST80 (guide) Eyepieces: Televue Nagler 7/11/22mm, Takahashi LE50mm, Denkmieir 14mm, Andrews (Moonfish) 30mm Cameras: Canon EOS RP, Player One Neptune-C II Planetary (IMX464), QHY Polemaster Lenses: Canon 300mm F4 L, Tamron 24-70mm G2 F2.8, Samyang 14mm F2.8, Rokinon 8mm Mounts: Losmandy G11G, Skywatcher Star Adventurer I PRO Binoculars: Bushnell Forge ED 10x42
Congratulations Rob, great that you managed to capture Pluto and glad the link helped out.
Gabrielle See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110) The only culture I have is from yogurt
Anyway, to make a long story less boring, here is my final shot.
