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from the 400-years-of-telescopes-and-you-go-nude dept.
Tonight – October 19, 2017 – the planet Uranus, the 7th planet outward from the sun, is at opposition. In other words, our planet Earth in its smaller, faster orbit swings in between the sun and Uranus today, placing Uranus opposite the sun in our sky.
Because Uranus is opposite the sun, Uranus rises in the east at sunset, climbs highest up for the night at midnight (midway between sunset and sunrise) and sets in the west at sunrise. Not only does Uranus stay out all night long, but this world is now coming closest to Earth for the year and shining at its brightest best in our sky.
But even at its brightest, Uranus is still quite faint. It is barely perceptible as a dim speck of light to the unaided eye. At a magnitude of 5.68, Uranus shines no more brilliantly than the sky's faintest stars. Given a dark sky free of light pollution, you might see Uranus with the eye alone – but only if you know right where to look for this distant world in front of the rather faint constellation, Pisces.
As good fortune would have it, this year the new moon – a moon most nearly between the Earth and sun for this month – falls on October 19, too, at nearly the same hour that Uranus reaches opposition.
Source: earthsky.org
takyon: The opposition peaks during the day in the U.S. (October 19, 17:21 UTC), so maybe try it on both nights.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by FatPhil on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:19PM (25 children)
> Not only does Uranus stay out all night long, but this world is now coming closest to Earth for the year
Yeah, but Uranus has only just passed aphelion (2009) and will have a closest approach to earth closer than the previous one every year until its perihelion (2050).
> As good fortune would have it, this year the new moon falls on October 19, too
And that affects what how? Maybe the pyramids are aligned too? Yeah - my razorblade's sharper than it was yesterday, that proves it!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Informative) by Post-Nihilist on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:58PM (8 children)
The light reflected by the moon makes the pupils smaller and in a new moon there is no moon visible so your perception of the sky is way better. There is nothing mystical or magical about it... I tough that the way our vision works was général knowledge learned in highschool... Fnord666 and takyon apparently thought something along those lines.
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!
(Score: 5, Informative) by deimtee on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:11AM (2 children)
It's not just your eyes adapting. The moon can be a significant source of light pollution if it is above the horizon.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by BK on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:25AM
Well, light pollution is intolerable. We need to find a way to keep that Moon thing out of our skies!
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:53AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:49AM (4 children)
Only if you're looking vaguely towards the moon. Half of the time you aren't, and the moon's utterly irrelevant.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:08AM (3 children)
Are you really this dumb? Do you ever look at the stars? Have you seriously never noticed the moon, or any other light source's effect on the visibility of stars?
Son, you need to get out of your mom's basement and interact with the real world before you spout opinions about things you obviously know nothing about
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:13AM (2 children)
If you live in or near a big city, you'll have no chance to see anything but the brightest stars anyway, even at new moon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:37PM (1 child)
I was fortunate to stumble upon a meeting of the Taibei astronomy club on top of the tallest skyscraper in Taibei last year. They had set up telescopes, the sky was clear, and we could see Jupiter and some of of its moons unaided, along with Uranus (having good eyes).
Forgot whether it was new moon though.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:02PM
You saw Jupiter's moons unaided by a telescope?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilean_moons#Visibility [wikipedia.org]
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/26664/is-it-possible-that-i-just-saw-jupiters-moons [stackexchange.com]
http://www.denisdutton.com/jupiter_moons.htm [denisdutton.com]
I guess it is possible.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Post-Nihilist on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:04AM (1 child)
But judging from the Technical content of your post maybe you only look at the sky with a telescope and dont care about the moon unless it is hiding the object of your interest and simply forgot the impact it has on nightvision
Be like us, be different, be a nihilist!!!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:50AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:07AM (8 children)
http://umich.edu/~lowbrows/guide/eye.html [umich.edu]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @08:59AM (7 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:11AM (4 children)
Hey, Fat! Do you mind if I call you Phil? This is not right:
The illumination of the Moon, even if it is not in your sky while observing, does cause significant light pollution, which brings up my second point>
While "air" pollution can be a contributing cause, the main enemy of amateur astronomy is "light pollution". This is what may keep us from seeing Uranus, as much as we all want to, with our naked eyes. Check out such advocates as The International Dark Sky Association [darksky.org], or attempt to establish Dark Sky Preserves [wikipedia.org].
--
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:02AM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:20AM (2 children)
So you are saying if we could just make the earth's atmosphere into a transparent layer of crystal clear gas, all those street lights and stadium lights and my neighbor's porch lights would not make any difference it the seeing conditions for astronomy? Methinks that only some of the diffraction of the light pollution is due to human pollution of the air, and much more could be done by lessening the amount of light pollution, even though reducing "air" pollution might be a good thing on other grounds. So I have to disagree with you, FatPhil! As do most amateur astronomers.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:04PM (1 child)
Some of the best stargazing I've ever done (I'm a city boy, I know all about causes of light pollution, and jump on any opportunities to get away from same), was right next to a military base in the countryside. Sure, behind the woods was a really bright glow that just barely poked over the artificial horizon created by the trees, but the vast majority of the sky had the clearest pinpoints I've ever seen.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:01PM
Sure we have. They are called "light pollution domes". My point is that the light of light pollution is the more amenable component. Some of the "scatter" is natural and not due to human caused air pollution.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:26AM
The moon also affects the ambient light due to reflection from other objects nearby, including the ground you are standing on. Which unless you are looking more or less straight up will always in your field of view, and thus affect your eyes' dark adaption.
You're right, however, that the moon only will affect your adaption if it is visible on the sky (assuming no clouds; but then, clouds are already quite detrimental to seeing the stars even without moonlight ;-). But note that while the moon is only on the sky about half of the time, the moon phase determined which half it is: At full moon, it is exactly that half at which the sun is not in the sky, so whenever the moon does not disturb your view of the stars, the sun will do a much more thorough job of that. So the mopon phases not only affect the brightness of the moon as seen from earth (by showing more or less of the lightened side), but also the amount of time the moon is seen on the sky. So the closer to new moon you are, not only the less will your view of the stars be disturbed by the light of the moon when it is visible, but also, the more time you have to see the stars without any disturbance from the moon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:06AM
I thought uranus was the source of that air pollution.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:55AM (4 children)
As deimtee noted [soylentnews.org], the Moon is a significant source of glare. Uranus is too dim to show up in a sky with a full moon in it.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @09:03AM (3 children)
The moon is below the horizon 50% of the time, you don't need the 3% new moon for it to be cooperative.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:47AM (2 children)
Oh for fuck's sake to you too. Think of the relative positions of sun and moon during full moon, and during new moon. When it's full, it's on the OPPOSITE SIDE from the sun.
The 50% of the time the full moon is below the horizon, the sun is above the horizon, which may adversely impact your ability to see the stars. As the fullness goes down, the percentage that both sun and moon are absent goes up. However, late evening or early morning could still be too bright to see the faintest stars/planets, because of sun's light scattering.
Since the new moon is very close to the sun, they will both rise and sink at pretty much the same time, and the night will be the darkest. This gives you the best possible conditions for observations.
Stop being a Uranus, dude.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:07PM (1 child)
What 50% of the time the full moon is below the horizon?!?! Stop introducing utterly irrelevant and stupid concepts, and actually argue against the points I make. This may require upping your reading comprehension skills to secondary-school level, alas.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @02:10PM
You very clearly do not understand the lunar cycle and what causes the phases of the moon. When the moon is full, it is above the horizon all night long. When it is new, it is above the horizon all day long. You also misunderstand the scattering of light. Air pollution is not the primary scatter source for light, it is the air molecules themselves, which includes the atmospheric moisture. That's why the sky is blue. Your comments about the sharpest pinpricks of light you've seen are not related to light pollution, but to atmospheric seeing; you were apparently in a very good seeing location.