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posted by takyon on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:51PM   Printer-friendly
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.


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  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:16AM (2 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:16AM (#584272)

    I've got a 10" Cassegrain, it's gonna stay in storage while I go to bed. Mainly because the lighting in my apartment complex means I'm lucky to see the full moon, but I either A) go to bed early; or B) don't want to get run over by some drunk idiot coming home from a night of watching it on TV in a bar.

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:25AM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday October 19 2017, @12:25AM (#584279)

    In a dark sky, would the 10" show more than yet another pale dot?

    My neighbors were disappointed that their telescope wasn't changing the pale star dots into anything other than more pale dots. They changed their mind when I pointed it to Saturn and we could see the rings.
    I'm wondering if it's worth pointing it at Uranus...

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Snotnose on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:10AM

      by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday October 19 2017, @10:10AM (#584458)

      Planets go from pale dots to discs. Stars stay dots.

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.