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Related: About this forumHow to see Pluto in your sky (earthsky.org) {17 July opposition}
Posted by Deborah Byrd in Astronomy Essentials | Space | July 3, 2019
Small icy Pluto discovered in 1930 requires a telescope to be seen. Its some 1,000 times too faint to see with the eye alone. How can you spot it? The only way is to locate Plutos starfield through a telescope, and watch over several nights for the object that moves. Thatll be Pluto! Its seen to move because its so much closer to us than the distant stars.
In fact, Pluto is the most distant object in our solar system that can be viewed through amateur telescopes.
And the best time of year to see Pluto through a small telescope is here! The planet will reach its opposition on July 14, 2019. At opposition, Pluto appears more or less opposite the sun in our sky, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west. At this time, our planet Earth is passing approximately between Pluto and the sun; we arent going directly between Pluto and the sun this year as we did in 2018. Also, dont let that opposition date July 14 fool you. Pluto is visible somewhere in the sky, for some hours of the night, for most of every year. July 14 just marks the middle of the best time of year to see it.
Here are few tips for spotting Pluto in 2019:
Youll need at least an 8-inch telescope. A 12-inch telescope like the one used by Efrain Morales to capture the image at the bottom of this post will capture even more light from this distant world.
Youll want dark, clear, country skies. Visit EarthSkys Best Places to Stargaze page for dark locations near you.
Pluto is traveling in front of the constellation Sagittarius this year, as seen from Earth.
The charts below were kindly provided by SkyandTelescope.com, via Bob King. Thank you, everyone!
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a little more: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/how-to-see-pluto-in-the-night-sky
FirstLight
(13,360 posts)I just found this neat app on time&date.com
You can enter the location and it is interactive map of the sky!
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/usa/south-lake-tahoe
Judi Lynn
(160,542 posts)Thyla
(791 posts)Man an 8inch is hardly small, out of the reach of most I'd assume.
eppur_se_muova
(36,266 posts)And an 8" Dobsonian can be made very cheaply.
Of course, w/jobs paying such shitty wages, that's still out of reach for a lot of people ...