Our planet Earth will swing between the sun and the seventh planet – Uranus – on November 13, 2023. Which means we’re now smack in the midst of the very best time of 12 months to see this outer planet. Have you ever ever noticed Uranus? It’s theoretically doable to see with the attention alone. However, in observe, Uranus is hard to find with out optical help. Nonetheless, it’s simpler with Uranus reverse the sun. It’s rising within the east because the sun units within the west, highest within the sky at midnight.
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Uranus at opposition
When and the place to observe in 2023: Uranus is theoretically seen to the unaided eye – assuming you have got good eyesight – and you’re beneath a dark sky. The planet is well seen in good binoculars or a telescope. By the point of its November 13 opposition, Uranus is rising within the east at sundown and is seen all night time. It’ll stay within the night sky by April of 2024.
Opposition for Uranus will fall at 17 UTC (11 a.m. CDT) on November 13, 2023.
Brightness at opposition: The seventh planet shines at its brightest for 2023, at magnitude +5.6, and can have a diameter of 3.7 arcseconds.
Distance from Earth: Uranus is at its least distance from Earth for 2023, 156 light-minutes or 18.6 AU from Earth.
Constellation at opposition: Uranus is in entrance of the constellation Aries the Ram.
By at telescope: Uranus seems as a tiny, greenish disk 3.7 arcseconds throughout. Search for as much as 4 moons of Uranus as nicely.
Word: Uranus reaches a yearly most in brightness at or close to opposition. From mid-October to mid-December, Uranus might be at its brightest, shining at +5.6 magnitude. So it ought to be doable to glimpse with the unaided eye, if circumstances are optimum.
Fast info about oppositions
Opposition marks the center of the very best time of 12 months to see an outer planet.
Consider us on Earth, sweeping between the sun and Uranus in our smaller, sooner orbit. Across the similar time as Uranus reaches opposition, it’s also making its closest method to Earth.
For exact sun and Uranus rising occasions at your location:
Old Farmer’s Almanac (U.S. and Canada)
timeanddate.com (worldwide).
Stellarium (on-line planetarium program)
In-the-sky information and finder chart from your location
How typically is Uranus at opposition?
Uranus is the seventh planet from our sun. A 12 months on Uranus is 84.4 Earth-years lengthy. As a result of Uranus’s orbit across the sun is so gigantic, and since Earth whips across the sun so rapidly as compared, Uranus’s opposition date falls about 4 days later every year.
2022 Uranus opposition – November 9
2023 Uranus opposition – November 13
2024 Uranus opposition – November 16
2025 Uranus opposition – November 21
Uranus occasions in 2023
January 22, 2023: Uranus ends retrograde movement
Might 9, 2023: Uranus at solar conjunction
August 28, 2023: Uranus begins retrograde movement
November 13, 2023: Uranus at opposition
View from above the solar system, November 2023
Earth and Uranus
Our planet Earth swings between the sun and Uranus on November 13, 2023, inserting us squarely in the midst of the very best time of 12 months to see this outer planet. Why? As a result of in November 2023, Uranus is reverse the sun in our sky. It rises within the east because the sun units within the west. November 13, 2023, is when Uranus reaches its yearly opposition.
As a result of Uranus is reverse the sun in November 2023, it climbs highest for the night time at midnight (halfway between sundown and dawn). So, Uranus stays out all night time lengthy. Additionally, across the time of opposition, Earth’s movement brings Uranus closest to Earth for 2023. The planet shines at its brightest in our sky. How vivid is that? Not very vivid.
The very fact is, even at its brightest, Uranus remains to be fairly faint. It’s barely perceptible as a dim speck of sunshine to the unaided eye, even beneath darkish skies. At a magnitude +5.6, Uranus shines no extra brilliantly than the sky’s faintest seen stars. Given a dark sky free of sunshine air pollution, you would possibly see Uranus with the attention alone. However you’ll have to have a very good finder chart to know proper the place to search for this distant world in entrance of the fairly faint constellation Aries.
Distance to Uranus
At its closest level to Earth, Uranus remains to be twice as distant from us as its next-door neighbor, Saturn. At opposition, Uranus might be simply shy of 19 astronomical items (AU) away from Earth and 20 AU from the sun. (One astronomical unit equals the common distance of Earth from the sun). Go to Heavens-Above to search out out the current distance of Uranus and the opposite solar system planets.
Different Uranus observing alternatives
Whereas opposition is mathematically the very best time to view Uranus because of its nearness and brightness, one other nice alternative is when the dim planet is close to a brighter, nearer planet, or close to the moon. For instance, when Venus or Mars passes near distant Uranus as seen from our viewpoint, we get a straightforward guidepost to level us to the gas giant.
Additionally, in 2023, Uranus is near the moon on the in a single day of November 25-26, making it simpler to search out; however Uranus could also be washed out by the virtually full moon.
Backside line: Uranus reaches opposition on November 13, 2023. At the moment, it’s brightest for the 12 months and visual to the attention beneath optimum observing circumstances. Right here’s easy methods to see it.
Read more: Seasons of Uranus, a sideways world with strange seasons
Read more: Uranus discovered by accident in 1781
