Cycling UK Forum

Yes, wozn't U at skool once?
I went to a high skool. It woz on the top of a hill.

As for the planet suff, I was very much into it all as an 11yo. Still have the book my aunt gave me.

I went to a grammar school Mick F!

uwidavid wrote: ↑2 Jan 2022, 1:08pm The Independent also had a quiz last week.
Q: What is the furthest planet visible to the naked eye?
They (of course) gave the wrong answer of Saturn, but it is in fact Uranus which is just at the limit of naked eye visbility (if you can find a place without light pollution).
I find it strange that it was not spotted in antiquity, but I feel they were happy with 5 +sun and moon to make the magic 7.

When I was a teen I sought out and found Uranus - first through binoculars, but once I had it nailed I could pick it out with the naked eye from our back garden. Uranus, at about magnitude 5, would have been in the constellation Leo at that time - well placed for Northern observers - and of course light pollution was barely heard of in those days. I remember following Uranus in its slow movement relative to the stars, for several weeks until it disappeared into the twilight.

I don't think I could repeat that feat nowadays!

661-Pete wrote: ↑2 Jan 2022, 8:58pm I remember following Uranus in its slow movement relative to the stars, for several weeks until it disappeared into the twilight.

I don't think I could repeat that feat nowadays!

And nor would you want to.

I'll get me coat.

Mick F wrote: ↑2 Jan 2022, 5:26pm I knew the rotation thing when I woz at skool in the 60s.
Nothing new under the sun.

No, it’s around the sun…

Earth, if I remember the fact correctly, rotates at 23.5deg from the orbit plane.
Uranus is more like 80odd degrees.
Not looking it up, but you can if you want.

Uranus has been well placed for viewing for a number of years now (unlike Saturn) and in a sad geekish way is my favourite planet. The colour in a 6" scope is an ethereal bluish green.

A few years ago it was close enough to Venus to see both planets in a single high power field. The sense of scale this evoked was breathtaking, it made me appreciate the distance to Uranus and how big this little solar system of ours really is

Mick F wrote: ↑3 Jan 2022, 3:05pm :lol: :lol:

Earth, if I remember the fact correctly, rotates at 23.5deg from the orbit plane.
...

Changes over time.

Venus has a somewhat more extreme "inclination" (retrograde rotation).

Ian

In the course of my musings on the subject of 'our' solar system, I cam across some brilliant videos on YT, on ei n partic. is bundled full of details about the various planets and it was a soberign few minutes to watch teh fate of Venus over the year - well, I say years, but really they were millions... I can see now that our fate is sealed and all that remains to do is go stock upon loo roll and praps spalsh that pointless nest-egg on a Aston Martin and a farewell Ruby !!
Actually I have a funny story about Aston Martins, which goes like this: friend - a batchelor and a GP of sober disposition, buys Aston Martin in the hopes of giving his life a little spice, however finds driving said statement jam-jar attracts the wrong sort of attention he being, as noted, of sober disposition. Instead, friend buys Volvo to use while AM is saved for unspecified special occasions and meanwhile, finds true love via his practice in the form of practice physio and lo! a child is born. Aston Martin is sold and they live HEA

If you want to see a really interesting portrayal of Uranus, look at this thread from an astronomy forum. You need to scroll down to the tenth post to see the corrected composite of Uranus being occulted by the Moon. As the OP explains, he had to do some manipulation - but the image clearly shows the contrast between the Moon - a mere 400,000 Km away, and Uranus (around 2.9 billion Km).

That Voyager 2 craft sure did a superb job! I remember being enthralled by the images of Uranus's fifth largest moon, Miranda.

Mick F wrote: ↑2 Jan 2022, 5:26pm Nothing new under the sun.

In our knowledge of planets? Since we were at school...

Discovery of massive Kuiper belt objects, and the consequent reclassification of Pluto.
Discovery of a few thousand exoplanets, when we used to wonder if any existed.
Discovery of extremophiles, and the implications for life on other planets,

Jonathan