See Uranus This Weekend


Recommended Posts

The planet Uranus reaches opposition on Saturday (Sept. 29). This means that Uranus is directly opposite the sun in the sky.

Uranus rises will rise as the sun sets, and set as the sun rises. It will be highest in the sky at local midnight, roughly 1 a.m. if you are on Daylight Saving Time.

Uranus was discovered accidentally by William Herschel on the night of March 13, 1781. All the other planets had been known since prehistoric times, so this was a major discovery in its time, and made Herschel famous.

thumbnail.aspx?q=4674217938190515&id=610c4c965ae3de9d5814596a72eadf2b

The reason Uranus had remained undiscovered for so long is that, although it is quite large, the third largest planet after Jupiter and Saturn, it is very far away from the sun, so is very dimly lit. If you know exactly where to look, it is just possible to see Uranus with the naked eye, but most of us need binoculars and a good chart to spot it among the thousands of stars of similar brightness.

When Herschel first observed it, he was unsure what he had seen: a nebula, a comet, or a planet. After a night or two, he saw that it had moved, so it couldn?t be a nebula. It didn?t change size or shape, so he knew it wasn?t a comet.

Once the object's orbit was determined, Herschel knew he had found the sun?s seventh planet: 31,763 miles (51,118 km.) in diameter, four times larger than the Earth. It orbits at 19 times the distance from Earth to the sun, twice as far from the sun as Saturn.

more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why wait until this weekend... ;)

Oh wait...

That said I do enjoy checking out the planets at times when they are more easily visible to the naked eye, since I don't have any cool astronomy equipment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fun Fact: Originally when they discovered the planet, Herschel wanted to name it "Georgium Sidius" (George's Star) in honour of King George III. However, they went against that idea and instead called the planet Uranus. I guess it goes to show you what others thought of the King back then...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't want to do this 'joke,' but I can't help myself...

I see it more often than that in the bathroom!

Emoticon-Facepalm.gif@Myself

What do Star Trek and Toilet paper have in common? They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons

:rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate it when the hair from one side gets stuck on the other side and creates a blockade for future defacation. It's just a mess that can only be fixed by a meteor shower.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate it when the hair from one side gets stuck on the other side and creates a blockade for future defacation. It's just a mess that can only be fixed by a meteor shower.

What the hell dude? The entire image is actually quite revolting!! Sounds like this **** happens to you quite often, you should wash Uranus more often by the sounds of things!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's taking out Klingons, mudslag, taking out, not looking for! get your Uranus jokes right!

and yeah, whoever decided to go with that name meant well, but seriously....i feel bad for that planet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

was it this weekend just gone? on friday morning I saw a really really bright star that I havent seen on my journey to work before ( i work 5am-2pm) pretty sure it wasnt venus as it looked alot brighter.

yes it was a star not a plane....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

was it this weekend just gone? on friday morning I saw a really really bright star that I havent seen on my journey to work before ( i work 5am-2pm) pretty sure it wasnt venus as it looked alot brighter.

yes it was a star not a plane....

In the east? About 2/3rds of the way up? I think that's Jupiter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.