This Week is the Best Time to See Uranus With the Naked Eye

This week, the planet Uranus is only 1.77 billion miles from earth.  Believe it or not, that's close enough to see it. Normally, Uranus can barely be seen with the naked eye on a very dark, clear night. The tricky part is having a dark enough sky - and knowing exactly where to look. This week gives us an even better chance to see Uranus, due to it's "close" proximity to earth.

Of course, when we say "close" it is a relative term. Exactly how close is Uranus to Earth? Well, if you could get in your car and drive to Uranus, traveling at  a constant 75 miles an hour, it would take you  nearly 3000  years to get there. So keep that in mind as you are trying to find this tiny dot in the night time sky.

Uranus is now visible in the evening sky among the stars of Pisces. You best bet is probably to study a constellation map before searching for Uranus. Once you locate Pisces, you can scan the region with binoculars. A small telescope would be even better to find this tiny, pale-green planet.

Like a lot of star gazing events, you are probably going to have to get out of the city in order to get a good  glimpse of Uranus. Thursday,  October 3, Uranus will be in opposition to the sun, which means it should be visible all night long.