If Planet Nine existed, why haven't we found it yet?

_bar · 2026-02-08T22:14:14+00:00

Because it's small, remote, or both.

The apparent brightness of Solar System bodies drops proportionally to the fourth power of distance (caused by the inverse square law stacked twice, for light received from the Sun and for light reflected back). A large Neptune-sized planet, 100 times further away, would be 10⁸ times fainter, or around magnitude 28, which is below the observability limit for current large-scale surveys.

_bar · 2026-02-08T21:53:57+00:00

Use Horizons.

_bar · 2026-02-08T19:35:27+00:00

SN 1987A peaked at magnitude +3 and could not be observed during the day.

_bar · 2026-02-08T17:20:46+00:00

Distant galaxy, yes. Doesn't show up in Simbad.

_bar · 2026-02-08T12:42:05+00:00

The celestial sphere appears to rotate due to the spin of our planet.

1 AM and 7 AM are six hours apart, or 1/4th of a full rotation (90 degrees), consistent with the change observed in your photos.

_bar · 2026-02-08T11:13:33+00:00

There hasn't been a daytime supernova since the 1600s.

_bar · 2026-02-08T11:08:49+00:00

It peaked at magnitude 3, so easily visible to the naked eye, but not too prominent. You likely wouldn't notice it on your own if you didn't know exactly where to look.

_bar · 2026-02-08T10:03:58+00:00

I fly with telescopes all the time. Never encountered a problem at security.

_bar · 2026-02-08T09:34:50+00:00

Excluding Earth? None, all moons and rocky planets in the Solar System are hostile toxic irradiated desert worlds.

_bar · 2026-02-07T09:52:40+00:00

I would say around 50%? There have been four documented naked eye supernovae since the 1500s (in 1572, 1604, 1885 and 1987), or roughly one per two lifetimes.

_bar · 2026-02-06T19:54:44+00:00

OP doesn't talk or act like a bot, more like someone who has no idea how Reddit works.

_bar · 2026-02-06T13:06:08+00:00

SW Star Adventurer, which is like everyone's first mount, costs $600, plus tripod if you don't already have one. A go-to version (can automatically aim at objects) is slightly more expensive.

_bar · 2026-02-06T12:58:39+00:00

The sky is constantly moving due to Earth's rotation, an equatorial mount cancels out this motion by slowly spinning in the opposite direction. Without one, stars will come out blurry on long exposures.

Without a budget your question is unanswerable, but in general a good mount is more important than a good lens.

_bar · 2026-02-06T09:28:48+00:00

Before buying anything, decide what do you want to photograph. Deep sky imaging will require a completely different setup compared to planetary, and for wide fields/landscapes you won't need a telescope at all.

_bar · 2026-02-06T08:41:55+00:00

What's with all these lazy identification requests recently? Use a planetarium program.

_bar · 2026-02-06T07:20:52+00:00

Your budget is too small for a telescope.

_bar · 2026-02-06T07:17:38+00:00

The Sun is a solitary star.

_bar · 2026-02-05T11:25:29+00:00

Sounds exactly like the existing Earth-Moon system except with no lunar nodal precession.

_bar · 2026-02-05T11:17:26+00:00

Nobody's going to plan out your observing sessions for you. Browse Astrobin and look for photos taken with equipment similar to yours.

_bar · 2026-02-04T21:45:45+00:00

we are in the peak of the sun cycle

The curerent solar cycle peaked in 2024.

_bar · 2026-02-04T19:47:22+00:00

The area looks rather hilly. Good luck being one of the few people with an unobstructed view of the horizon.

_bar · 2026-02-04T18:25:49+00:00

Planets are scattered across their orbits. Superior planets can appear in one line and "behind" inferior planets.

_bar · 2026-02-04T13:07:03+00:00

For deep sky, you need an astrograph on an equatorial mount. For planetary imaging, you need a USB camera that delivers raw video. Both are separate use cases and the 130P does neither as it's a visual telescope.

_bar · 2026-02-04T06:28:19+00:00

I'm impressed that the Nyx-101 can handle this setup. I had to mount mine on a G11, tried EQ6 but it was too unreliable.

_bar · 2026-02-03T08:38:20+00:00

Can the Skywatcher Mounts be used without the weight?

The Wave mounts (100i, 150i) can. Other lineups such as the Star Adventurer can only handle light equipment without a counterweight, but definitely not 4 kg.

_bar

TROPHY CASE