Loading...

And at least the Neptune will be at its best as well this year or this month. So this will be a great time to get out there with even binoculars for a small telescope to see if you can spot both Saturn and Neptune. Neptune is rather elusive and a little trickier to spot but since you have got Saturn very, very close it will make it a little easier to spot. Neptune is kind of a bluish, you will see a bluish dot. Saturn's rings are nearly edge on. So you will see most of the Saturns both in the northern and southern hemispheres and you may also want to look to see if you can see Titan moving across the face of Saturn as well. It's Saturn's largest moon, Titan. That's what's called a transit. So take a look for that as well. The planets do show up as a discernible disk through the eyepiece. So all Uranus you will see a definite there and Neptune you will see a discernible disk as opposed to a pinpoint of light. The stars will look like pinpoints no matter how you look at them because they are so far away. But the planets you will see a disk so definitely look for that. For our dark planets we have Ceres rising in the sky at 955 pm on the first, 746 pm by month end. Ceres can be spotted to the south near midnight when it is highest in the sky. Ceres is in a constellation of Cetus shining at magnitude 7.8 and it's actually not that high for those of us here in the Denver area. Further south you get the higher you will be. Pluto rises at 553 pm on the first about 354 pm by month end. The best time to spot Pluto will be in the late evening when it is highest in the sky to the south. Pluto is in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude 15.2. As always good luck at spotting Neptune, Ceres and Pluto. A large telescope and dark skies will be needed. For Pluto you will definitely need at least a 10 to 12 inch size mirrored telescope to see that one for sure. My 8 inch telescope will not cut it.