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, @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.