Pluto observation from BFSP - Sep 11-12 2004

I wanted to share my Pluto observation from the Black Forest Star Party this past weekend. Even after 35 years of observing, I guess there are still new things to see!

The field was a challenge to sketch, as there were many more really faint stars than those that I recorded (I was able to see 16th mag stars at the zenith in my 13"). And Pluto, at 14th magnitude, didn't really stand out, so I had to wait for the second night to see which one moved. The faintest stars I sketched are around mag 15.

Also observed Neptune's moon Triton, and the two brightest moons of Uranus Oberon and Titania, all firsts for me also. (BTW, Uranus was naked eye, NELM was 6.4 at the zenith).

Enjoy,
Doug

Attached Image:

Doug,

An excellent feat for any observer! This is a difficult object, at best, to observe. I am glad that you were able to pick this very distant object as well as the satellites of Uranus and Neptune.

Carlos

Doug,

Tony Donnangelo and I also observed Pluto during the BFSP. We used his 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob and had no trouble picking it out among the very dim field stars shown on Tony's computer generated chart. It was much easier to see than it was three weeks earlier when we also viewed it from CSSP. A number of our campsite neighbors had no difficulty seeing it when we coached them on exactly where to look.

I usually have little trouble detecting Pluto under magnitude 5.0+ skies with the 17" classical Cassegrain at the ASH Naylor Observatory in Lewisberry.

Dave Mitsky