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Old 02-September-2007, 08:29 PM
Tucson_Tim Tucson_Tim is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 4,361
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Nice pic of Uranus. Thanks Kyle.


From Dave Mitsky's Sep AstroCalendar:
Quote:
9/9 Uranus (magnitude 5.7, angular size 3.7") is at opposition at 19:00
Some more info on Uranus (from wikipedia) for neophytes like myself:
Quote:
Uranus axis of rotation lies on its side with respect to the plane of the solar system, with an axial tilt of 98 degrees. This gives it a completely different exchange of seasons to the other major planets. Other planets can be visulalized to rotate like tilted spinning tops relative to the plane of the solar system, while Uranus rotates more like a tilted rolling bowling ball. Near the time of Uranian solstices, one pole faces the Sun continually while the other pole faces away. Only a narrow strip around the equator experiences a rapid day-night cycle, but with the Sun very low over the horizon like in the Earth's polar regions. At the other side of Uranus' orbit the orientation of the poles towards the Sun is reversed. Each pole gets around 42 years of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of darkness.[40] Near the time of the equinoxes, the Sun faces the equator of Uranus giving a period of day-night cycles similar to those seen on most of the other planets. Uranus will reach its next equinox around December 2007.[41]
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