Uranus will vanish during 'lunar occultation' Wednesday night

[Judi Lynn]

By Brandon Specktor published about 13 hours ago

For three hours on Sept. 14, Uranus will simply disappear.



Uranus may soon be concealed. (Image credit: NASA Goddard)

Depending on where in the world you'll be Wednesday night (Sept. 14), you may be able to see Uranus disappear. (Don't worry; it'll be back again a few hours later.)

On Wednesday, the sixth planet from the sun will appear to pass directly behind Earth's moon, going completely out of sight for three and a half hours. The great disappearing act, also known as the lunar occultation of Uranus, begins around 4:41 p.m. ET (2041 GMT) and ends by 8:11 p.m. ET (0011 GMT on Sept. 15), according to In-the-sky.org. However, only viewers in Europe, northern Africa and western Asia will be at the exact right angle to see the illusion work.

Viewers in these regions will still need binoculars or a telescope to see the show, as Uranus is not a naked-eye planet. (Check this map, courtesy of In-the-sky.org, to see which regions will have the best view.)

If you are not in one of those places or you don't have a telescope, don't fret; you can watch the occultation live from Rome thanks to the Virtual Telescope Project, which will begin streaming the event at 4:45 p.m. ET (2045 GMT).

More:
https://www.livescience.com/uranus-lunar-occultation-sept-2022

[cstanleytech]

2. I knew that my dieting would pay off!!!! Oh, wait.......they meant the planet???

[Kaleva]

3. Johann Elert Bode is responsible for making the 7th planet the butt of jokes

"Ultimately, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode (whose observations helped to establish the new object as a planet) named Uranus after an ancient Greek god of the sky. Bode argued that as Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the new planet should be named for the father of Saturn. (Uranus is also the only planet to be named after a Greek god rather than a Roman one.) Bode's colleague, Martin Klaproth, supported his choice and named his newly discovered element "uranium.""

https://www.space.com/18704-who-discovered-uranus.html