Fact Sheet
Elusive Giant
Uranus, the third-largest planet in the solar system, is putting in its best appearance of the year. It rises around sunset and remains in view all night. It's brightest for the year, too. Even so, it's so faint that you need binoculars to find it, in the constellation Capricornus. This chart shows where to find the planet in early to mid evening, in the southeast. Fainter Neptune is well to its west. The inset photo is a Voyager 2 view of the planet, snapped in 1986. [Credit: Tim Jones; NASA/JPL (inset)]
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