Pluto 7/22/12

Last night, I took 88 shots of Pluto and stacked the best 70 with DSS with my C11 and a 0.5x Antares reducer. 30s exposures at ISO 1600 with a stock Nikon D70s right before midnight at its transit which puts the dwarf at opposition, not that it helps much. While I was hoping for back-back clear nights to absolutely confirm if it's Pluto or not, tonight's conditions will not cooperate. Between Sky6 and http://www.sky-map.org/ and about an hour of studying data, I have concluded this to be Pluto but hope to follow-up with a another shot to see movement. I did try to observe Pluto through the eyepiece at the end, but I think its out the reach of my scope and/or poorly dark adapted eyes.

Regards,
Steve

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Well, it is good to see you going for the easy stuff, Steve! 8)

Nice work, really!

Steve

Hi Steve:

Congratulations on capturing Pluto!

Excellent deep sky image, the individual star colors and resolution are both spectacular! If you keep doing this you may very well discover a comet or supernova. It's great to see so many stars in the field of a solar system imaging shot. I can't wait to image Jupiter this year, the season is about to begin...

Best regards, Dan

Nicely done Steve. Here is a wide field image of the area showing what you were up against. There are an overwhelming number of stars. Pluto is to the left of the open cluster M25. Finding and confirming Pluto amongst all those stars is quite an accomplishment!
Best regards,Dave

http://www.hbastro.com/HBAstro%20Images/Pluto01.wmv

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Very cool.

Steve…

I've seen Pluto several times in my 8" Celestron, so it's not out of reach of your C11. However, at 14th mag, conditions have to be right.

For me, it's been a combination of high elevation--Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park (7200') and Courtright Reservoir in eastern Fresno County (8200')--rock steady skies, very transparent air, and fully dark-adapted eyes. Three years ago at Courtright I even ID'ed several 15th mag stars near Pluto. On the other hand, last weekend at Courtright was not so good. The fringes of a summer monsoon left the air full of haze. So, although the skies ended up being very stable, I struggled to see beyond 11th mag.