At 04:18 PM 6/1/00 -0000, you wrote:

>I have been "heavily questioned" on another list

Ok, I'm curious.... Which list? Who is doing the questioning? Feel free to
reply to me off list. :-)

>Anyway, many are questioning whether Pluto is visible in a 4" scope.
>Does anyone else have observations at <=4"?

I have observed pluto many times through my 4.5" f/7.9 reflector, also with
a 3.2" refractor several times last apparition. In my experience Pluto is
an easy target with small apertures under decent skies (although 3.2" is
pushing the envelope a bit for me).

Of course the interesting thing to me about your post isn't that you
managed to see Pluto, which, while being something of an achievement, is no
surprise - it is that those using 18" scopes apparently found it a
challenge. I'm assuming they were at the same site; if so this is for all
practical purposes a pathological abnormality. Anyone who finds Pluto
"faint" with an 18" is either looking at it when it is barely off the
horizon, or uses excessively bright observing lights, or <insert stupid
observing trick here>. Perhaps the 18" folks were confusing some faint
field star for the planet?


--
Jeff Medkeff
Hereford, Arizona
Laptop broken, staying home