Stargazers rejoice – we’re going to get a spectacular view of Uranus on Monday as it lines up perfectly with Earth.
While the mysterious ice giant should be visible to the naked eye on a clear night, a basic pair of binoculars or telescope will enhance the view.
But why is Uranus so massive right now?
The answer is a phenomenon known as opposition.
Due to the fact that Earth orbits the Sun much quicker than the planets further out to space, almost every year there is a point at which it flies directly between the Sun and a neighbouring planet. Mars is the exception – because it is so much closer to Earth, this meeting only happens once every 27 months.
However, for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, Earth ‘catches up’ with them on its journey around the Sun. This is also the point at which the two planets are closest to each other, setting up some fantastic views – it looks extra bright because the Sun’s light is reflected straight back towards us.
Eagle-eyed stargazers may have noticed Jupiter is particularly bright in the sky right now – it hit opposition on November 3. On this day, Jupiter was around 367 million miles from Earth. At its furthest, the gas giant is 601 million miles away.
Next week, when Uranus looms into opposition, it will be around 1.6 billion miles from Earth.
That’s still pretty far, but lucky Uranus is quite big – it’s about four times as wide as our planet, which will help those hoping to catch a glimpse of it.
However, it’s not a ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ event says the Royal Observatory’s Dr Greg Brown, with the Uranus looking brighter than normal in the weeks before and after opposition.
‘To see it for yourself, you could try spotting it with your unaided eyes,’ he says. ‘But, given that it is barely within the ability of the eye to see, you would need excellent vision and very dark skies, free of light pollution, to have a decent chance of success.
‘A pair of binoculars or a small telescope will help considerably, making it visible even in bright cities if you are lucky.
‘For those in the UK it will be rising in the east around sunset, though it will be very tough to spot until twilight has ended. It will be at its highest at midnight, due south around 50 degrees above the horizon below the constellation of Aries.
‘If you are struggling to find it, look for two easy to spot sights: the almost unmissable bright point of light that is the planet Jupiter and the bright cluster of stars known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters – Uranus will be almost exactly halfway between the two.’
There are many weird and wonderful things about Uranus. It is the only planet that rotates at a right angle to its orbit – imagine pointing the North Pole at the Sun and you get the idea. This means the dark side of the planet is plunged into a 21-year-long winter as Uranus makes its long journey around the Sun.
This also means its two sets of dazzling rings are vertical, rather than horizontal as seen on Saturn.
Uranus also spins in the opposite direction to all the other planets except Venus.
And although known as an ice giant, the inside of Uranus is actually very hot. Almost all of the planet is made up of a hot dense fluid of ‘icy’ materials including water and methane which swirl around a small rocky core – here the interior reaches almost 5,000C.
On the surface however life is very cold given the planet is so far from the Sun. It takes 84 Earth years for the planet to complete one orbit – yet one of its sideways days only lasts 17 hours and 14 minutes, so it is spinning much faster than us.
MORE : Nasa plans to study Uranus ‘from behind’ – and it needs your help
MORE : Stunning new image of Uranus captures dazzling rings and mysterious phenomenon
MORE : ‘We really want to probe Uranus for signs of life,’ scientists say
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
