The Planet Uranus
31 Aug 2023, 05:22 UTC, Stuart Florida USA. Celestron CPC1100 HD telescope at f/14 (no Barlow). ZWO ASI224MC camera, 8 bit, bin 2, exposure 1s, gain 46, best 30 of 118 frames, no calibration frames, no filter, no guiding, no ADC, sensor 33.6°C/92.5°F. Good focus. Sky was not steady, scope appeared at least roughly collimated.
Note: Image was deliberately blurred in post-processing to show residual color (vice oversaturated white) on the disc of Uranus.
from Stellarium:
Altitude: 38°
Magnitude: 5.8
Apparent diameter: 3.6 arcsec
Processing notes: AS!3 and Photoshop.
Clouds: partly cloudy
Seeing: average
Transparency: poor
From Sky & Telescope magazine:
Uranus, magnitude 5.7 in Aries, is nice and high by midnight, 7° or 8° east of Jupiter.
from Wikipedia
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and is a gaseous cyan ice giant . Most of the planet is made out of water, ammonia, and methane in a supercritical phase of matter which in astronomy is called 'ice' or volatiles . The planet's atmosphere has a complex layered cloud structure and has the lowest minimum temperature of 49 K (−224 °C; −371 °F) of all Solar System planets. It has a marked axial tilt of 97.8° with a retrograde rotation rate of 17 hours. In an 84 Earth-years orbital period around the Sun, its poles get around 42 years of continuous sunlight followed by 42 years of continuous darkness.
Uranus has the third-largest diameter and fourth-largest mass among Solar System planets. Based on current models, inside its volatile mantle layer is a rocky core surrounded by a thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere. Trace amounts of hydrocarbons (thought to be produced via hydrolysis) and carbon monoxide along with carbon dioxide (thought to have been from comets ) have been detected in the upper atmosphere. There are many unexplained climate phenomena in its atmosphere, such as peak wind speed of 900 km/h (560 mph), polar cap variations, and erratic cloud formation. It also has a very low internal heat compared to other giant planets, which is still unexplained.
Like the other giant planets Uranus has a ring system, orbiting natural satellites, and a magnetosphere. Its ring system is extremely dark refelecting only about 2% of the incident light and contains the known 13 inner moons. Further out are the five larger major moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Orbiting at much greater distance from Uranus are the nine known irregular moons . The planet's magnetosphere is asymmetric and contains many charged particles which may cause the darkening of its rings and moons.
Uranus is visible to the naked eye. It is very dim and was not classified as a planet until 1781, when it was first observed by William Herschel . About seven decades after its discovery, consensus was reached that the planet be named from the Greek god Uranus (Ouranos), one of the Greek primordial deities. As of 2023, it was visited up close only once -- in 1986 the Voyager 2 probe flew by the planet. Though it can be resolved and observed by current telescopes, there is much desire to revisit the planet, as shown by Planetary Science Decadal Survey 's decision to make the proposed Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission a top priority in the 2023-2032 survey.
The Planet Uranus
31 Aug 2023, 05:22 UTC, Stuart Florida USA. Celestron CPC1100 HD telescope at f/14 (no Barlow). ZWO ASI224MC camera, 8 bit, bin 2, exposure 1s, gain 46, best 30 of 118 frames, no calibration frames, no filter, no guiding, no ADC, sensor 33.6°C/92.5°F. Good focus. Sky was not steady, scope appeared at least roughly collimated.
Note: Image was deliberately blurred in post-processing to show residual color (vice oversaturated white) on the disc of Uranus.
from Stellarium:
Altitude: 38°
Magnitude: 5.8
Apparent diameter: 3.6 arcsec
Processing notes: AS!3 and Photoshop.
Clouds: partly cloudy
Seeing: average
Transparency: poor
From Sky & Telescope magazine:
Uranus, magnitude 5.7 in Aries, is nice and high by midnight, 7° or 8° east of Jupiter.
from Wikipedia
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and is a gaseous cyan ice giant . Most of the planet is made out of water, ammonia, and methane in a supercritical phase of matter which in astronomy is called 'ice' or volatiles . The planet's atmosphere has a complex layered cloud structure and has the lowest minimum temperature of 49 K (−224 °C; −371 °F) of all Solar System planets. It has a marked axial tilt of 97.8° with a retrograde rotation rate of 17 hours. In an 84 Earth-years orbital period around the Sun, its poles get around 42 years of continuous sunlight followed by 42 years of continuous darkness.
Uranus has the third-largest diameter and fourth-largest mass among Solar System planets. Based on current models, inside its volatile mantle layer is a rocky core surrounded by a thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere. Trace amounts of hydrocarbons (thought to be produced via hydrolysis) and carbon monoxide along with carbon dioxide (thought to have been from comets ) have been detected in the upper atmosphere. There are many unexplained climate phenomena in its atmosphere, such as peak wind speed of 900 km/h (560 mph), polar cap variations, and erratic cloud formation. It also has a very low internal heat compared to other giant planets, which is still unexplained.
Like the other giant planets Uranus has a ring system, orbiting natural satellites, and a magnetosphere. Its ring system is extremely dark refelecting only about 2% of the incident light and contains the known 13 inner moons. Further out are the five larger major moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Orbiting at much greater distance from Uranus are the nine known irregular moons . The planet's magnetosphere is asymmetric and contains many charged particles which may cause the darkening of its rings and moons.
Uranus is visible to the naked eye. It is very dim and was not classified as a planet until 1781, when it was first observed by William Herschel . About seven decades after its discovery, consensus was reached that the planet be named from the Greek god Uranus (Ouranos), one of the Greek primordial deities. As of 2023, it was visited up close only once -- in 1986 the Voyager 2 probe flew by the planet. Though it can be resolved and observed by current telescopes, there is much desire to revisit the planet, as shown by Planetary Science Decadal Survey 's decision to make the proposed Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission a top priority in the 2023-2032 survey.