Today, Monday… Uranus opposes 2023
Al-Ahsa – Zuhair bin Jumah Al-Ghazal
The head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah Governorate, Majid Abu Zahra, explained that today, Monday, the planet Uranus will reach opposition with the sun in the Earth’s sky at 08:12 PM Mecca time (05:12 PM GMT) and it will be at the closest distance to our planet during the year, and its disk will be completely illuminated. In sunlight, which is the best time to observe it.
The phenomenon of opposition to Uranus occurs whenever the Earth passes between the sun and the planet, and it must be made clear that what is meant by Uranus being at its closest distance to the Earth is according to astronomical standards only, as it is actually 2.7 billion kilometers away from our planet, which means that Uranus is still far away.
Because Uranus is in opposition, it will rise with sunset and reach the highest point in the sky at midnight and set with sunrise the next day. The moon will be present in the sky in the waning gibbous phase one day after its full moon, which will cause the faint lights in the sky to be obscured. It is known that when one of the outer planets is in opposition, it is at its peak brightness and in its best conditions, but as for Uranus, its apparent brightness will be (+5.6), so it will be like dim stars to the naked eye, and its diameter will be only 3.8 arcseconds, but this is enough to see it in the form of a small foggy ball of Through high-powered telescopes and even through small, well-made telescopes. To try to see Uranus with the naked eye, the observation must be from a dark location far away from the light pollution of cities, but it can be easily seen through binoculars as a faint point of light, provided that the observer knows its location using an application. Regarding the date of the first day of Jumada al-Awwal 1445, Abu Zahra explained that (astronomical calculations indicate that the moon will reach the conjunction stage for the month of Jumada al-Awwal (the investigation day), Monday, Rabi’ al-Akhir 29, 1445, corresponding to November 13, 2023, at 12:27 noon Mecca time. The conjunction is one of the moon’s phases and means a meeting. The sun and the moon are at the same height in the sky when they are on the same celestial longitude and a different celestial latitude (invisible conjunction). The moon is moving from the west of the sun to its east, which is a global event that takes place in one moment for all parts of the earth. The moon will set from the horizon of Mecca ( Monday) at 05:38 p.m., two minutes before sunset, and thus the conditions for entering the month of Jumada al-Awal “astronomically (arithmetically) are not met. This will be followed by another phase of the moon called “the crescent,” which means seeing the crescent of the new moon easily with the naked eye after its conjunction with the sun. It will emerge from the status of “al-Mahaq” and move away from the sun sufficiently for light to appear on its surface, and this will be achieved the following day.
On Tuesday, Rabi’ al-Akhira 30, 1445, corresponding to November 14, 2023, the sun will set from the horizon of Mecca at 05:40 pm. The moon will be above the horizon at an altitude of (07) degrees, and the angle separating it from the sun (elongation) will be (14) degrees, and its luminosity will be (1.6 percent). It is possible to see it with the naked eye if the sky is clear, and it is preferable to take photographs, and it will set at 06:23 pm (43 minutes) after sunset.
Note that what was mentioned previously is an explanation of the scientific aspect only and does not specify the beginning of the month.
