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.

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Can't wait!!

Phil

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

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

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

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Thanks, antoniseb!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Thanks Eroica, I'll check it out.

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

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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

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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! :-)

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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:

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.

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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.

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

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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

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.

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

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