East Lansing Hopes to See Uranus Next Week

The best East Lansing viewing of Uranus will be in the week before and after October 7, when Uranus will be in opposition to the sun. Opposition refers to when two bodies are on opposite sides of the viewer. The coming opposition will place Uranus and the sun on opposite sides of East Lansing. The sun’s light will stream past Earth, bounce off Uranus, and come back to East Lansing.

With the sun, East Lansing, and Uranus in a line (i.e., forming a syzygy), this will also be the closest East Lansing gets to Uranus this Earth year. As a part of being in opposition to the sun, Uranus will rise with sunset and set with sunrise, traveling from east to west across the sky in the constellation Pisces. It is possible to see Uranus with the naked eye, but it is easier to see with binoculars or a telescope.

Uranus is the seventh planet of the solar system and is made up of a mix of hydrogen and helium gases surrounding an icy core of water, methane, and hydrocarbons. It was the first planet “discovered” by modern astronomy. Frederick William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, and named the planet Georgium Sidus after his fellow Hanoverian, George III of England. That name did not last, and although some people tried to rename the planet after Herschel, the seventh planet ended up with the name of the Greek god of the sky, Uranus.

Herschel was a noted composer and musician, but he is most known for his scientific work. Beyond Uranus, Herschel and his sister Caroline Herschel discovered infrared radiation, a couple of moons of Saturn and Uranus, and numerous double stars and galaxies. The sibling pair also made hundreds of telescopes.

The MSU Observatory will be open to the public on Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5, starting at 9 pm. For more information, click here.

Image courtesy of NASA.

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