Event Date: October 6th
Time: 8:00 PM
Brief
Uranus is about a week past opposition, meaning that it is slightly higher in the sky each day at Sunset. With the Sun setting earlier by a little over a minute on average during these few weeks of fall, it means that we are seeing Uranus at the same altitude at slightly more than 4 minutes earlier each evening. Being slightly east of the celestial meridian (not labeled), Uranus spends a little more than 12 hours above the horizon-- about the same about of time that the Sun does during the last days of March.
The image shows the planet low in the east-southeast. The sky isn't completely dark yet, being the last minutes of astronomical twilight. However, with the Sun on the other side of the sky, there is no glare interfering with Uranus, meaning that it is still an easy target with even bigger telescope.
Time: 8:00 PM
Brief
Uranus is about a week past opposition, meaning that it is slightly higher in the sky each day at Sunset. With the Sun setting earlier by a little over a minute on average during these few weeks of fall, it means that we are seeing Uranus at the same altitude at slightly more than 4 minutes earlier each evening. Being slightly east of the celestial meridian (not labeled), Uranus spends a little more than 12 hours above the horizon-- about the same about of time that the Sun does during the last days of March.
The image shows the planet low in the east-southeast. The sky isn't completely dark yet, being the last minutes of astronomical twilight. However, with the Sun on the other side of the sky, there is no glare interfering with Uranus, meaning that it is still an easy target with even bigger telescope.
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| click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp. |
The planet is in retrograde and moving very slightly further west each day as a result, it means that we see it with a new star field each week when viewing at high magnifications. Although barely visible to the eye alone under the darkest of skies, Uranus is high enough now out of atmospheric pollution to see well at mid-evening hours: between 8:30-10, in particular, getting high and at transit just after midnight as the week progresses. After being in Cetus for a short while, Uranus is still very close to the border with Pisces, yet now back within the boundaries of the two fish. When it continues in prograde again in a little over two months, it will still be in Pisces. After going prograde late in the year and continuing that way for about another 7 months, it will make another quick pass through Cetus' part of the sky. I will monitor the back and forth as it happens. It is by far, the most back-and-forth by such a distant planet in a long time.
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