Why Is Uranus Blue-Green? Planet Very Visible From Earth This Week

There will be an extra something special in the sky this week and you might get a view of it if you know where to look. Uranus is approaching opposition with Earth, and at the perfect time too because there’s also a new moon on its way.

This combination means the night sky will be fairly dark, making Uranus far easier to spot than if there was a full moon or even a half moon. The best time to view Uranus will be Wednesday night into early Thursday morning. This will change depending on where you are, but in the New York area the best time to spot it, when it’s at its highest point in the sky, will be at 12:42 a.m. EDT. But it will be visible all night, according to NASA. You can use this website to see exactly when Uranus will be best to view.

Uranus will appear to have a blue-green color in the sky, this makes it a little easier to spot with the naked eye, but you’ll definitely be able to see if it you have binoculars. This is all thanks to the planet’s position of opposition. It will be rising in the east around sunset and setting in the west around sunrise. To spot Uranus, look to the constellation Pisces constellation the planet will likely be the brightest in the bunch and close to the front making for easy viewing.

What does opposition mean for planets?

When a planet reaches opposition in its orbit, it is directly opposite the sun, putting it in the perfect position to view it from Earth right in the middle. When this happens the two planets and the sun make a perfect line.

The planet orbits the sun every 84 years. The planet is vast different from others because not only does it rotate in the opposite direction that most planets do, its equator is at a 97 degree angle to its orbit.

The planet has an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium for the most part with a little bit of methane and some water and ammonia. The reason the planet appears slightly blue is the methane present there, according to NASA. When the light from the sun passes through the atmosphere it gets reflected back by the clouds but the methane present in the atmosphere absorbs the red light so what’s left is the bluish green color.

Uranus is an ice giant so it’s made of mostly fluids and doesn’t have a solid surface making is less than ideal for exploration, the atmosphere as well is a harsh environment that no craft would be able to survive.