Uranus opposition September 12-13, 2008
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Friday, September 12, 2008.
The Earth in its orbit is now swinging between the outer planet Uranus and the sun.
Uranus is said to be at opposition, because it stands opposite the sun in Earth’s sky. Around the world tonight, Uranus will rise in the east at sunset, climb to its highest point at midnight and set in the west at sunrise.
At or near opposition, Uranus comes closest to Earth for the year and shines at its brightest in our sky. Still, to the unaided eye alone, this world is barely perceptible as a faint speck of light in a dark country sky.
Uranus – the 7th planet outward from the sun – was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope. That discovery was made by Sir William Herschel in the year 1781. Before the discovery of Uranus, astronomers since ancient times had known of the 6 planets outward to Saturn. They thought Saturn was the most distant planet. In the 1500s, Copernicus computed Saturn’s distance to be over 9 times Earth’s distance from the sun. With Herschel’s surprise discovery, the solar system doubled in size overnight. Uranus was found to be 19 times the Earth-sun distance. Tonight, Uranus shines all night long, but you’ll probably need binoculars and a good sky chart to see it.
Uranus Almanac 2008:
Uranus at opposition: Sept. 13, 2 hours Universal Time (Sept. 12, 10 hours Central Daylight Time)
Uranus nearest Earth: Sept. 12, 4 hours UT (Sept. 11, 11 p.m. Central Daylight Time)
