Uranus Opposes Sun - 2019 OCT 27-28

[CentaurZ 358]

Uranus will appear in opposition to the Sun during the night of 2019 OCT 27-28. At magnitude +5.7 it may be visible to sharp naked eyes under dark skies, especially during what will be the time surrounding the Dark Moon.

It has always amazed me that Uranus was not discovered until William Herschel pointed a telescope at it in 1781. I would imagine that countless people observed it by naked eye before then, but assumed it was a fixed star and never noticed that over a period of time it changed position relative to the actual fixed stars. I first observed it by naked eye nearly fifty years ago, but of course I knew that it existed and exactly where to look.

Photos and descriptions of Uranus would be welcome additions to this thread.

Edited October 21, 2019 by CentaurZ

[MKHACHFE 349]

We finally had clear skies this past Sunday, 27th, in the SE of the UK and I'm very pleased to say that I easily spotted Uranus' disc with my XT8 and 10mm Baader Classic Ortho. Sure, it was just a pale green slightly larger than zero sized dot, but it made me very happy.

Lovely sight. 

[Paul73 3,847]

It may not have the wow factor of Jupiter or Saturn, but I always enjoy a peek at that little duck egg blue disc.

Nice and high at a sensible hour from the UK too.

Paul

[Scooot 3,991]

I also had a satisfying peak on Sunday at the very tiny disc with my VX10.   

Edited October 30, 2019 by Scooot

[Stu 29,662]

Might see if I can glimpse it in the little 72mm I have with me. Will be easy enough.....if I can find the little blighter!

[Paul M 3,828]

I've spent a couple of nights recently looking at Uranus with the lickle 127 Mak. I always find that pale dot very satisfying.

It struck me after the scope was aligned just how high up in the sky it is now! It was lost in the deep south for so long you tended to shrug it off as dead loss. Not now though. 

Looking forward to much more outer planet viewing this season and next...

[Paul M 3,828]

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

Might see if I can glimpse it in the little 72mm I have with me. Will be easy enough.....if I can find the little blighter!

I've been tracking it down easily with 10 x 50's with ease recently. But star hopping and field identification is sooo easy in bins! Can't just quite pick out the rings though..

[MKHACHFE 349]

15 hours ago, Scooot said:

I also had a satisfying peak on Sunday at the very tiny disc with my VX10.   

Fantastic to know that I wasn't the only one out on Sunday night, taking full advantage of the slight break in cloud cover. 

[MKHACHFE 349]

14 hours ago, Paul M said:

I've been tracking it down easily with 10 x 50's with ease recently. But star hopping and field identification is sooo easy in bins! Can't just quite pick out the rings though..

I can agree on the ease of star hopping with bins. Although I use a RA 9x50 finder, which is essentially a mono bin attached to the scope, it has entirely changed the game for me with regards to finding targets during my sessions. It's so easy that I was actually a bit disappointed that I found Uranus and Neptune so easily...I was kind of hoping for a challenge.

 

Cheers

[MKHACHFE 349]

14 hours ago, Paul M said:

I've spent a couple of nights recently looking at Uranus with the lickle 127 Mak. I always find that pale dot very satisfying.

It struck me after the scope was aligned just how high up in the sky it is now! It was lost in the deep south for so long you tended to shrug it off as dead loss. Not now though. 

Looking forward to much more outer planet viewing this season and next...

Agreed, it was a nice suprise to have it so high up. Same with M31.

[MarsG76 4,617]

Is there actually much difference in its size when it's at opposition or not when the sun isn't obscuring it?? I'd imagine that the sheer distance of it from the sun makes minimal difference with Uranus or Neptune during the year observable times.

 

[Stu 29,662]

5 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

Is there actually much difference in its size when it's at opposition or not when the sun isn't obscuring it?? I'd imagine that the sheer distance of it from the sun makes minimal difference with Uranus or Neptune during the year observable times.

 

Not much. 3.7 or 3.8 arc seconds vs 3.4 at superior conjunction. Roughly 10%, noticeable if you could compare them side by side but not that obvious otherwise I suspect.

[MarsG76 4,617]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not much. 3.7 or 3.8 arc seconds vs 3.4 at superior conjunction. Roughly 10%, noticeable if you could compare them side by side but not that obvious otherwise I suspect.

Yeah.. still love seeing that tiny aqua disc in the eyepiece.... 

[Pete Presland 11,042]

Definitely the number one imaging target for the next couple of months, going to be long, long imaging runs to try and capture more than just a disc. Manged the Polar cap during some fine seeing a couple of years back.