
Uranus



Observe planet Uranus at its best in the autumn sky
Have you ever seen Uranus with the naked eye? If not, moonless nights in late October and November offer ideal conditions to test your visual acuity and sky clarity. Uranus reaches opposition in the constellation of Aries on 28 October 2019 and lies 48° above the southern horizon at midnight as seen from the heart of the British Isles. Here is our guide to tracking down the seventh planet from the Sun.

Don’t miss the close flyby of bright space rock 1998 HL1, 25–29 October
Their high detection rate reveals that near-Earth asteroids are commonplace, but they’re typically small, fleetingly observable and very faint. Hence an opportunity to view a large example bright enough to see in a typical backyard telescope shouldn’t be missed! Here’s our guide to tracking down 700-metre-wide 1998 HL1 between 25 and 29 October 2019.

See Mars, Uranus and the Moon get close on 10 February
Have you ever seen planet Uranus? If skies are clear in the UK and Western Europe on the evening of Sunday, 10 February, see this icy gas giant less than 2 degrees (or four lunar diameters) from Mars and 6 degrees from the 5-day-old crescent Moon. In fact, you’ll see all three in a single view of wide-angle binoculars like 7×50s.

Star-hop your way to viewing planets Uranus and Neptune at their best
Clear nights of early Northern Hemisphere autumn offer ideal opportunities to track down the two outermost planets of the solar system, Uranus and Neptune. What’s more, you don’t need a big telescope to find them. We show you how to locate these gas giants using binoculars. The Moon also passes close to Neptune on 20 October.



See Mercury’s very favourable dawn display under southern skies
Have you ever seen the closest planet to the Sun? If you wish to tick Mercury off your To-See list, particularly if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, now until the middle of May is the time to be scrutinising the eastern sky about an hour before sunrise. Mercury also has a close encounter with an old crescent Moon on 14 May.

See planet Venus hit peak brightness in the evening sky
Currently setting over four hours after the Sun as seen from the heart of the UK and visible in the west-southwest at dusk, dazzling Venus is about to hit peak brightness in the constellation of Pisces. The planet attains magnitude -4.8 on Friday 17 February — some 21 times the luminosity of brightest star Sirius gracing the southeast horizon as darkness falls.