What a fantastic time for Newbies to observe Uranus!

[A budding astronomer]

Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, it is for beginners a quite hard target to find and since it is moving through a very remote area in Pisces at the moment and there aren't many bright objects in this area, Until now.

Uranus, Zeta Piscium and 88 Piscium are currently forming a small triangle in the constellation Pisces. Your first step is to locate the constellation Pisces. With the help of Stellarium or a handy star map this should be easy.

2. Locate the star Zeta Piscium. Zeta Piscium is a magnitude +5.2 binary star, barely visible to the naked eye, but an easy way to find it is to locate Epsilon and Mu Piscium two 4th magnitude stars and in between the pair of stars is Zeta Piscium and the triangle I mentioned.

3. Point your optical aid of choice ( binoculars or telescope you will need these ) at Zeta Piscium.

4. When you have centered Zeta Piscium, you will realize a triangle of 6th magnitude objects consisting of Zeta Piscium ( Mag +5.2), 88 Piscium ( Mag +6.0) and and Uranus( Mag +5.8).

5. Before looking at Uranus, take a look at Zeta Piscium. You will see a beautiful binary system with a large separation easily visible in telescopes with an aperture of 3".

6. Now, in the triangle the object to the left of Zeta Piscium is Uranus, when centering Zeta Piscium move your telescope to the left even though it looks like your moving to the right through the telescope, this is what you want. Everything in a telescope is inverted due to it being a mirror. Through binoculars still move to the left as binoculars are not inverted.

7.When Uranus is centered you can make out its blue-green hue and if you own a large telescope of 8" or more you may be able to make out it's disc of 3.5 arcseconds. And over the late winter and early spring you can watch it move slowly through the constellation.

I hope you can enjoy observing the blue Ice giant slowly trek through Pisces.

Thanks

Adam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stu]

Nice post Adam. Might give that a go if the skies clear..... it only moves slowly though so should be a great chance to pick it up easily.

Thanks  

[westmarch]

don't forget Neptune.

 

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, westmarch said:

don't forget Neptune.

 

Very true, great chances to see both of these in easy to find positions.

[gtis]

5 minutes ago, westmarch said:

don't forget Neptune.

 

Hi already spotted Neptune last night might try Uranus and the Comet if the clouds ever clear

[Pete Presland]

Uranus is an easy spot in my 9x50 finder as well which always helps. I found Neptune a much tougher target!

[Stu]

7 minutes ago, bunnygod1 said:

Uranus is an easy spot in my 9x50 finder as well which always helps. I found Neptune a much tougher target!

For some reason I've not managed a look at them for a number of years. Must try harder  

[A budding astronomer]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

For some reason I've not managed a look at them for a number of years. Must try harder  

I might write a forum on finding Neptune since I have observed it a few times over the autumn.

[laudropb]

Good idea Adam.

[Pete Presland]

Neptune has a nice "signpost" at the moment, it was quite a long star hop last time I viewed it. I must admit I was bit underwhelm by the view of Neptune, Uranus was a little more better. When you consider how far away they are though, you can expect too much even in the largest aperture scope.

[A budding astronomer]

18 minutes ago, bunnygod1 said:

Neptune has a nice "signpost" at the moment, it was quite a long star hop last time I viewed it. I must admit I was bit underwhelm by the view of Neptune, Uranus was a little more better. When you consider how far away they are though, you can expect too much even in the largest aperture scope.

Uranus according to Keck is growing cloud patterns due to its changing of season. The poles are white because they were bathed in sunlight for 21 years  the non polar areas are just being exposed to sunlight causing the weather changes.

[Pete Presland]

I managed to capture the polar region in my last Uranus image.