Uranus visible from Earth: how to spot the ice giant

Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun and one of the least-studied in our solar system, is currently visible to the naked eye.

The planet reaches opposition with the Sun from Earth's perspective tonight, meaning it is at the closest point in its orbit to us.

Casual star-gazers will be able to catch a glimpse of the planet throughout the month, provided they know where to look.

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Uranus will be a relative stone's throw from Earth at just 1,757,794,316 miles - or 18.91 astronomical units - away, meaning it will be 18.91 times further from us than we are from the Sun.

The planet will be about the same brightness as an average star, writes the Daily Mirror, but it's famous blue-green hue should make it easier to spot.

“Both these factors make it a great time to view the planet,” Jane Houston Jones, senior outreach specialist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told The Register today. “We've actually been looking at Uranus for a couple of months now but it's a more convenient and human-friendly viewing time.”

Tonight, the planet will reach its highest point in the sky at around 00:35 GMT, almost exactly due south. For best results, people are recommended to use binoculars, if not a telescope.

Uranus does have a very faint ring system, notable for sitting vertically to the Sun rather than the standard horizontal sweep, but these will not be visible without the use of an extremely powerful professional telescope, the Daily Express reports.

Forgetting for a moment that there is a healthy scientific consensus that suggests the name of marble-blue ice giant is actually closer to ‘YOO-ran-us’ rather than ‘yoo-RAIN-us’, that hasn't stopped a certain amount of mirth across social media.

And some may not be joking but have stumbled across the joke anyway.