[Friends_of_SSASTROS] Hunting Season Is On The Way...

[Mike McCabe]

...Neptune hunting that is, and this Fall let Saturn be your guide to finding the eighth and most distant planet of our solar system in just a pair of binoculars. 
For the past couple of years we've issued charts featuring member-derived asterisms to help folks track down the distant gas giant, and it only makes sense to stay along the same lines for this year. Neptune is out there - like on the order of two billion miles out there - but unbelievably it can still be easily tracked down in nothing more than a pair of standard issue 10x50 binoculars (and even smaller ones if you're experienced enough to know what you're looking for). Neptune's vast distance from the Sun means that it takes about 165 Earth years to go around the ol' Sol once, thus it doesn't appear to move very fast across the stars as seen from Earth. Indeed, during much of the time that it is visible to us, it appears to be moving backward (retrograde) across the stars. Many of you will recognize the features identified in this year's map as the same ones we used last year.

That's a lot of lines to digest on that chart!   But, study it carefully and it'll all come clear eventually.
You'll find attached a printer-friendly version of the chart above, replete with step-by-step directions for navigating the starfield to the last planet in our solar system...I had to say it...haters of Pluto's demotion are encouraged to reply vigorously and aggressively. 
Keep Planning Ahead,
Mike M.



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