Posted on 09/11/2020 10:05:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Uranus is visible to the naked eye if you know where to look.
Stargazers, including those without binoculars or a telescope, have a chance to see one of our solar system's outermost planets for the next few days: Uranus. It's barely visible to the naked eye if you know where to look.
The gas giant, which is the seventh furthest from the sun, will appear in the sky between 11:30 p.m. and 4 a.m., according to Joe Rao of Space.com. It will be located within the constellation Aries, about 12 degrees left of Mars.
"It's already one-third up from the eastern horizon by 11:30 p.m. local daylight time and will reach its highest point — more than two-thirds up from the southern horizon — just before 4 a.m.," Rao writes.
A look at where Uranus will be in the night sky on Sept. 13, 2020, at 11:30 p.m. Uranus is the green dot to the left of Mars in the eastern sky. They key is that the moon is not lighting up the sky right now, so Uranus is not obscured in the dark skies as long as it's clear outside. People on the West Coast currently dealing with wildfire smoke may be out of luck.
It's easier to see, of course, with binoculars or a telescope. Rao says a telescope with at least a 3/4-inch aperture should show a tiny, blue-green disc.
Facts about Uranus Uranus is known as the “sideways planet” because it rotates on its side. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. Uranus was the first planet found using a telescope. Uranus is an Ice Giant planet and nearly four times larger than Earth. Uranus has 27 known moons, most of which are named after literary characters. Like Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune, Uranus is a ringed planet. One Uranus day is 17 Earth hours. One Uranus year is 84 Earth years. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft that has visited Uranus.
=rim shot=
You gotta be flexible to see it.
I’m just here for the comments.
I see what you did there.
Not really far enough away for a telescope. Mirror maybe.
Put your rear end up to a mirror?
I always use a mirror.
Ok, I’m following freeper tradition and posting after only reading the headline. You don’t need a telescope to see it just a mirror.
“It’s barely visible to the naked eye if you know where to look”
.
It’s behind you.
Some people couldn’t find it with both hands.
I'm thankful for this tip, normally I can't find it with both hands and a road map.
...by three seconds...
The jokes just write themselves....
Fry: Oh, man, this is great! Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus.
[He laughs.]
Leela: I don't get it.
Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all..
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum.
Lol
You can’t even see the church on the hill cross the freeway where I live because of the smoke.
I’m afraid I won’t get to see Uranus this year.
I actually looked. the clouds were bad, they might have came from Uranus.
little known fact=
Uranus produces a lot of wind
up to 900 kmh
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