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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: 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.