It is time to try glimpsing the seventh planet, Uranus, with the naked eye. It will certainly not be easy and could well take a few attempts over the next week but it is possible.
To help ensure success, take a pair of binoculars with you. Uranus hovers at the limits of naked eye visibility but this week it gets a small boost. It will be at opposition, when the planet is exactly 180 degrees away from the sun, as seen from Earth. To achieve this configuration, Earth must be directly between Uranus and the sun, meaning that we will be closer to the planet than at any other time in the year. This helps make Uranus appear brighter. It is still a tough challenge though.
In the days surrounding opposition, the almost full moon dilutes the sky’s darkness, undermining the advantage of its relative proximity. Later in the week, however, the moon will have drifted away and its phase will have decreased making things easier. The chart shows the view looking due south at midnight on 8 November. More detailed finder charts, especially for binoculars, can be found by searching for “Uranus binocular finder chart November 2022”. From the southern hemisphere, Uranus appears in the northern sky.
