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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) 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].
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(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.