Is Uranus sometimes as bright as Venus?

xjx388

Penultimate Amazing
xjx388
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Ok, I expect to see some creative parody titles...

Anyway, I was outside this evening and I noticed a really bright light in the sky. Initially I thought it was a helicopter or plane approaching the airport some distance away. But it didn’t move. Pulled out Night Sky and saw that it is, apparently Uranus. It looks brighter than I think it should, brighter than Venus has ever appeared to my eye.

So my stupid novice question is: is this normal? Here is a pic of the Night Sky screen facing that way and a pic of the light.

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No way is it Uranus. I'd bet Venus. It's darned bright right now. It's even visible well before sunset if you know where to look. It alternates between setting after sunset or rising after sunrise. Typically the brightest planet in the sky.
 
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marting said:
No way is it Uranus. I'd bet Venus. It's darned bright right now. It's even visible well before sunset if you know where to look. It alternates between setting after sunset or rising after sunrise. Typically the brightest planet in the sky.
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I guess it’s possible the app is off on its calibration or something...but other stars in the sky lined up ok. Weird but yeah, probably Venus. Or aliens.
 
[Airplane Mode] Surely, it can't be Sirius. [/Airplane Mode]
 
Unless you're in a very dark place (i.e. way, way out in the middle of nowhere) you won't be seeing Uranus at all without optical aids!
 
They're both in the south west (Venus more west and Uranus more south), so I would blame your app or phone's compass. They're not exactly next to each other (and Uranus is no way eyeball visible), but in the same vague direction at sunset (well, where I am).
 
Uranus can't be seen with the naked eye. That's why the pre-telescope ancients only knew about five other planets.
 
Tolls said:
They're both in the south west (Venus more west and Uranus more south), so I would blame your app or phone's compass. They're not exactly next to each other (and Uranus is no way eyeball visible), but in the same vague direction at sunset (well, where I am).
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Klingons have been recently spotted orbiting Uranus. Birds of Prey may be cutting down on the reflective light.

Or it's app failure. It's hard to discern the difference between fact and fiction these days.
 
What Wollery said, and almost what TragicMonkey said. Uranus is so close to the limit of naked eye visibility that no one had ever recognized it prior to it's discovery via telescope. You need ideal eyes, conditions, and knowledge of where it is to have a chance of seeing it naked eye.


ETA: Oh, and it moves so slowly across the sky that it's hard to prove you actually have seen it. But having said that all that, now is a good time for you to be looking for it.
 
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Thanks all.

It’s only been recently that I started spending time outside looking at the stars as a form of meditation/relaxation. I had never seen Venus so bright.

And now I know that maybe my phone isn’t the most reliable instrument for star gazing. Maybe it’s time to invest in better equipment. Any recommendations?
 
I'm delighted to see a genuinely curious question as an OP, that has also provided some initial research.

It did get me thinking as to the relative orbits of all three planets and what would be the optimal spot to see Uranus and Venus at the same time (given of course that Uranus was bright enough to see from here at that distance.)
 
Late October later this year will be when Uranus is at opposition, IOW visible at the nearly darkest time of night.
 
xjx388 said:
It’s only been recently that I started spending time outside looking at the stars as a form of meditation/relaxation. I had never seen Venus so bright.
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A trio of respected astronomers pointed out that Venus burns like a silver flame, the summit of beauty and love.
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with your equipment. The night sky apps tend to show you a very wide angle view of the sky, so at first you are likely to misjudge where in the sky things should be. Especially if you are viewing on a small screen.

Your photo is taken with a camera with a much narrower field of view, so the distance between the horizon and Venus appears relatively greater than it does in the app.

Your app may allow you to zoom in a little on the sky and therefore give you a view which better matches your perception of the real sky.
 
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