SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:05AM
Only if you are utilizing a Newtonian telescope [wikipedia.org]. I thought all soylentils would be aware of the basic technology, going back to the times of Sir Issac Newton, and Heretic Galileo Galilei. Some think that refractors, with a longer focal length, are better for planetary observation, but I prefer a good Newtonian on a Dobsonian mount. By "good", I mean "large". As every amateur, and professional, astronomer knows, "it's all about the aperture, the aperture, the aperture, all the right light in all the right places." Ok, it doesn't quite work. But it is still true!
(For any baby Soylentils who may be reading this thread, a Newtonian telescope utilizes a mirror ground to a parabola in order to reflect light into a secondary, right-angle mirror that sends the converging cone of magnification to an eye-piece, where the focal point is realized. See, above [wikipedia.org] Nothing to do with looking at your own butt, as amusing as that seems to be to some, especially Runaway. Speaking of which, Runaway, what do you think about hemorroids and Uranus, these days?)