Finding Neptune with no sucess

Last night I took out my scopes and had a nice observing sesion.once I knew Neptune was in view (away from my trees) I went on the hunt using Starry night pro and This months S&T.I tried using my 24mm Panoptic with no success and my 35 Panoptic with no success.I know I was in the right area but all I saw were stars.What should I see if I found Neptune.I know at mag 7.8 it is pretty dim but would it be a small bluish disc or a blue star? Is my ep choice correct? I also had the 9.25 scope in use for this hunt. I haven't the darkest skies but can see clearly all the main stars in the big dipper which I use for my guide for viewing.Any help would be appreciated.thanks.

If your visual guide for light pollution is the visibility of main stars of the Ursa Major, which are major dudes, hanging in at about mag 1 or so, mag 7.8 may be difficult or impossible from that location. You should see a pale bluish disk if you find it, but your location doesn't sound too promising.

When I go after one of these very far away planets, I print out the view presented in Starry Night with Telrad circles and EP FOVs centered over the target. You need to see that star field to identify the location.

Neptune should look like a bluish tiny disk and not "bright" like a star. I would amp up the power a bit to get a good view. The 24mm should get you to the star field, but something stronger should get you the view for the planet, somewhere between 8mm and 14mm should do. If seeing is good, go stronger! Once you find it, the color will really stand out.

Think tiny. With any of your scopes you should be able to see it. When you believe you are in the correct area look for three "stars" equally spaced in a horizontal line. They are fairly widely spaced across the low power FOV. They appear almost equal brightness. Neptune is the middle one. Then ramp up the power to 200X +. It should show as a very light blue, tiny disk. Piece of cake. Remember, think tiny.

With both my ED80 and 12.5" dob I was showing both Neptune and Uranus to the students at the school on Monday evening. That was the night I finally saw two of the moons of Uranus. That wasn't a piece of cake. It took 440 & 661X with my 12.5" dob to make them show clearly. Uranus itself was a naked eye object.

Took me a bit the first time to find Neptune too, the secrete is putting enough power on it till you know what it looks like. With 200x you can CLEARLY tell its a planet, at lower powers likes 30x, you kind of have to know what ti looks like or you will fly right by it. I know I did.