Uranus Easy to Find!

[Eroica]

Next Tuesday 28 November 2006, the planet Uranus will be within about 1-3 degree of the Moon (56% illumination), making it very easy to locate in binoculars.

Uranus's magnitude will be about 5.8, and it will lie within the field-of-view of a pair of 10x50 binoculars centred on the Moon. Lambda Aquarii - mag. 3.7 - will also lie within the FOV.

You'll have to check with Heavens Above (or appropriate software like Starry Night) for local details, as the Moon's exact position in relation to Uranus will be changing by the hour.

[Bokmakierie]

Can't wait!!

Phil

[Kaptain K]

"Easy to find" would be a better description. The presence of the first quarter Moon will make Uranus harder to see.

[Eroica]

"Easy to find" would be a better description. The presence of the first quarter Moon will make Uranus harder to see.

Point taken ... now, how does one go about changing the title of a thread?

[antoniseb]

how does one go about changing the title of a thread?

Just ask, and wait for a moderator to get to it.

[Eroica]

Thanks, antoniseb!

[Eroica]

Kaptain K was right. I can see Lambda Aquarii (mag. 3.7) easily enough with my 10x50 binoculars despite the glare from the Moon and the considerable light pollution here, but I'm having a bit of trouble convincing myself that I can just about glimpse Uranus with averted vision!

[Eroica]

I just spotted a satellite passing Lambda Aquarii, but it's not mentioned in Starry Night! It seemed to be about as bright as Lambda Aqr.

Still can't claim to have collected Uranus.

[Eroica]

Success at last! I just about managed it by arranging things so that the Moon was no longer in my field-of-view and then allowing my eyes to become dark-adapted. Averted vision and a little patience did the rest.

It's right on the very edge of visibility at my location. In dark skies, it would probably be relatively easy to see with direct vision.

[Eroica]

Now that I've finally found it, it's quite easy to spot - but still only with averted vision.

The most successful method seems to be this: stand at the corner of a building so that the Moon is out of sight; place Lambda Aquarii at the centre of the FOV and look directly at it; then change the focus of the binoculars and at just the right focus Uranus should wink into sight.

[George]

Thanks Eroica, I'll check it out.

You'll have to check with Heavens Above (or appropriate software like Starry Night) for local details, as the Moon's exact position in relation to Uranus will be changing by the hour.

I like the site but they don't include the planets outside Saturn.

[Bokmakierie]

Thanks Eroica for drawing our attention to this elusive planet. I took a number of afocal shots through the eyepiece of my Dobs and finally captured it side by side with Lambda Aquarii.
I posted the pics in Astrophotography.

Phil

[The Bad Astronomer]

I remember the first time I spotted Uranus through my old 'scope. So cool... a pale green disk, not at all starlike. SOme time later I nabbed Neptune, too. It was just barely resolved, so I could see it wasn't a star, but it wasn't anything more than a dot to the eye. I never have seen Pluto at the eyepiece (though I've imaged it with CCDs).

So I've seen all the planets! :-)

[Eroica]

Haze scattering the moonlight is being blamed for the difficulty experienced by several observers in Dublin. Here's a brief report from Dave Moore, chairperson of Astronomy Ireland:

We had similar difficulty in the Phoenix Park tonight. There was a bit of haze in the sky and this scattered the moonlight quite a bit. I could only just barely glimpse Uranus in the beginning. After an hour or more the transparency improved and I could fairly easily see Uranus in 10x50 binoculars. Later on though the haze increased again and made Uranus difficult to see. Still hundreds of people saw it in an 8-inch Celestron. along with great views of the Moon.

Hundreds of observers who turned up for Astronomy Ireland's Uranus-Watch in the phoenix Park here in Dublin not only saw the planet but were also treated to a fireball of magnitude -5.

Hundreds of us saw this mag -5 (+/-2) fireball in Dublin's Phoenix Park
(53.3571N,6.3267W) at our Uranus Watch (www.astronomy.ie/uranusmoon.html) -
including me!

The time was 21:32UT on my mobile phone which is only 2 seconds behind UT as I
write. So, allowing 5 seconds for me to get it out and turn on the backlight
means the fireball was between 21:31:57UT and 21:32:57UT

The fireball was in the NW with the centre of the track perhaps 30 degrees up.
The track was heading almost straight down toward the horizon.

Needless to say the crowd of several hundred people were very impressed. [Dave Moore]

[George]

So I've seen all the planets! :-)

Ah ha! That's why the impounded Pluto; "out of sight, out of mind".

I set my scope up and the software on the telescope crashed rendering it useless.

[Peter Wilson]

Ah ha! That's why the impounded Pluto; "out of sight, out of mind".

I set my scope up and the software on the telescope crashed rendering it useless.

Problem is old software...it still thinks Pluto's a planet

[llarry]

Eroica,

Thanks for the post. Just curious if Uranus looks like a dim star in your 10x50's or if you can definately tell a difference. I have made many attempts with my bins but haven't ever seen any thing which didn't look like stars.

Larry

[Eroica]

I have made many attempts with my bins but haven't ever seen any thing which didn't look like stars.

Same here. It always looks starlike to me in my 10x50 binoculars. I have never been able to make out a disc without a telescope.

[Romanus]

Definitely looks like a star in my 7x50s. Thought I noticed the barest hint of blue, but it might have been my imagination.