Pluto reaches opposition on 23 July 2024 and can be found in the constellation Capricornus.
A challenge is to see if you can find and photograph Pluto in the night sky.
For more advice on finding it, read our guide to Pluto opposition in July 2024.
And read on for tips on how to photograph the dwarf planet.
Photographing Pluto
To image Pluto you’ll need a tracking mount with a relatively accurate drive and good polar alignment.
Dark frames – exposures of the same length as regular imaging shots, but with the lens cap on – are highly recommended.
Subtracting these from your regular ‘light’ frames will help remove noise (unwanted artefacts) that could be mistaken for Pluto.
If you’re planning to use a standard photographic lens, we’d recommend one with at least a 200mm focal length to provide sufficient image scale.
Take photos over the course of several nights, align them and flick between them. Do you see anything faint moving between frames? If so, you might just have caught yourself a dwarf planet.
Pete Lawrence is an experienced astrophotographer and a presenter on The Sky at Night.
