Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on November 21, 2025, 03:55:40 pm

Title: Spot Uranus shining its brightest this year — here's what to expect on Nov. 21
Post by: Buster's Uncle on November 21, 2025, 03:55:40 pm

Space (https://www.space.com/)
Spot Uranus shining at its brightest this year — here's what to expect on Nov. 21
Anthony Wood
Thu, November 20, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST


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A Hubble Space Telescope view of Uranus captured in February 2019. | Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and M. Wong and A. Hsu (University of California, Berkeley)


November is the best month of 2025 to catch a glimpse of the distant ice giant Uranus as it shines at opposition, though you'll still need a telescope if you hope to spot the elusive planet hiding among the stars of the constellation Taurus.


TOP TELESCOPE PICK

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The Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Telescope side view with accessories details


If you want to take a look at Uranus, we recommend the Celestron NexStar 8SE. It's pricey, but well worth the investment as it provides top imagery for planets, stars and beyond while offering crisp views across the field of view and a useful magnification of up to 180x. You can check out our Celestron NexStar 8SE review for more info!

Uranus will reach opposition at 7:17 a.m. EST (1217 GMT) on Nov. 21, when it will be positioned opposite the sun in Earth's sky. according to the astronomy website In-the-sky.org. The weeks surrounding opposition present a perfect opportunity to hunt for the distant ice giant as it stays visible from dusk to dawn in the Autumn night sky.

The ice giant shines with an apparent brightness — or magnitude — of +5.6 around the time of opposition, which means that it's technically possible to spot it with the naked eye under perfect dark sky conditions. (On the magnitude scale used by astronomers, lower numbers signify brighter objects). For example, at its brightest, the planet Venus shines with a magnitude of about -4.6.) However, a pair of binoculars or ideally a backyard telescope with an aperture of 8 inches (200mm) or more will make spotting the ancient world a whole lot easier.


How to find Uranus

Look to the east in the hours following sunset on Nov. 21 to find the stars of the constellation Taurus shining low on the horizon, with the combined light of the Pleiades open star cluster glowing roughly 10 degrees, or the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length, above it.


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A finder chart showing the location of Uranus close to the Pleiades on Nov. 21. | Credit: Made by Anthony Wood in Canva


Uranus can be found in a patch of sky less than 5 degrees to the lower right of the Pleiades, appearing as a tiny aqua dot against the blackness of space. Whilst this may seem underwhelming at first glance, it's important to remember exactly what you're looking at — a world 1.72 billion miles (2.77 billion km) from Earth, four times the size of our blue marble, which has only been visited by a single spacecraft in the history of our species.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/spot-uranus-shining-brightest-heres-160000478.html