Attached are two disk drawings made of Uranus last night using the University of Leicester's 508mm (20") Planewave Dall Kirkham telescope made with Richard Broadbent. The seeing was average with a few good steady moments at times. We examined the disk of the planet both at x531 and x350, and we were able to discern a nu,ber of interesting subtle features which seemed to be present on the disk.
Drawing 1 was made in IL at x531(south is at the top). The bright EZ seemed to be present as usual, but I had the impression that there wwas a brighter region within the zone (indicated). I also had the impression of a lighter zone further up- a view similar to that had by David Gray on 1st November 2011. Certainly the large aperture makes an enormous difference and even at these powers, the colour of the planet was very distinctive. Although an inexperienced observer, Richard was able to discern the suspected brighter regions on the disk.
Drawing 2 was made using a red W#25A filter. We experimented with various magnifications but at x531 the disk was much to faint to see anything, and x350 seemed to be a good compromise. Again the two zones were apparent, though in a far less certain way, and the suspected spot in the EZ was not apparent in the filter. Again RB suspected a single brighter region on the disk but was far from certain.
By 1902UT, fog and mist began to come in, and the image of the planet became rather faint, and since we only had the telescope until 2100UT, we decided to move on to Jupiter. A most interesting observation of the planet.
[Paul G. Abel:Leicester:United Kingdom]
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