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the moon. But, for the fun of it, we use the moon to help you envision the location of Uranus and the ecliptic on the dome of night tonight.
• Most people need a detailed sky chart and an optical aid to see Uranus, which, at best, appears as a faint starlike object to the eye. In 2013, the optimal time for watching Uranus will come October.
• Notice Uranus' location on the chart at the top of this post. On sky charts, the ecliptic represents the Earth's orbital plane projected onto the constellations of the Zodiac. Since all the solar system planets revolve around the sun on nearly the same plane, you'll always find the planets on or near the ecliptic.
• Both the moon and Uranus reside in front of the constellation Pisces the Fishes this evening. After a few more days, the moon will move out of the constellation Pisces and into the constellation Aries. For the most part, Uranus will remain within the constellation Pisces for the rest of this year.
• Look at the feature sky chart at top and you'll see the ecliptic just misses the constellation Cetus the Sea-monster. Because Uranus lies south of the ecliptic this year, it'll actually pass through the extreme northwest corner of Cetus in March of 2013. Annually, in late March, even a fraction of the solar disk clips Cetus before fully returning into Pisces.
• This year, Uranus retrogrades - goes westward - in front of backdrop stars for a total of five months (July 18 to December 18). We explain why a planet goes in retrograde on our January 30 program on Jupiter.
• On the evening of January 16, the waxing crescent moon pairs up with Uranus and lights up the constellation Pisces the Fishes.
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