Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Finding Uranus in the lineup of the "planetary parade"
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| Black and White chart suitable for downloading and printing (click to embiggen and print). Uranus is at magnitude 5.7 and is visible under dark sky conditions to the unaided eye, but still best in binoculars. Looking North bight Jupiter and Aldebaran are easily visible, below and to the west the Pleiades cluster is also easily seen. Two binocular distances west is the brightish star delta Arietis and an a distinct triangular formation of stars. Uranus is in the same binocular field as delta Arietis and the triangle. The circle is the file of view of 10x50 binoclars | Stellarium simulation of the sky appearance of the area covered by the black and white chart. Click to embiggen. | One of my photographs of the area labeled to show Uranus n relation to Aldebaran, Jupiter, the Pleaides, delta Arietis and the triangle. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5x zoom, ƒ/2.4 13seconds exposure, 7.9 mm, ISO1600. Click to embiggen. |
The current planetary lineup (Planetary parade), has four easily seen classical planets (Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. And two difficult to see planets (Uranus, Neptune).
You would need a telescope to see Neptune in the sky under normal circumstance, but it is low in the horizon murk, and not accessible to telescopes at the moment.
Uranus is at magnitude 5.7 and is potentially visible under dark sky conditions to the unaided eye (as humans can see down to magnitude 6.0 with decent eyesight and dark skies), if you know where to look. Binoculars (or a telescope) are still best to find this planet.
At the moment, the iconic Pleiades cluster is and excellent signpost to Uranus, just two binocular widths away.. See the charts above for guidance. If you are in a dark sky site, the abundance of faint stars may make it confusing to poick up Uranus initially, but the triangle asterism is a good further guide. You my need to consult the printable map a couple of time to pin Uranus down.
Uranus will not move much over the month, so these maps will be a good guide for all of February.
Labels: binocular, lineup, Uranus
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