



Observers of the outer solar system can get a good view of Uranus before dawn. The best time to look for it is shortly before twilight begins around 3:30 a.m. local daylight time. Uranus then lies 25° above the eastern horizon among the background stars of southern Aries the Ram. This morning, use binoculars to find the magnitude 5.8 planet 2.3° south of the magnitude 5.7 star 19 Arietis. A telescope reveals Uranus’ blue-green disk, which spans 3.5".The waxing gibbous Moon passes near Jupiter tonight. From North America, the two were closest this afternoon (when they were below the horizon), though they remain within 5° of each other after darkness falls. Despite Luna’s brilliance dominating the scene, you should have little trouble picking out the magnitude –2.5 planet to its right. Once the Moon moves away later this week, it’s worth targeting Jupiter through a telescope. The gas giant world spans 45" and shows striking detail in its cloud tops. Any scope reveals two parallel dark belts that sandwich a brighter zone coinciding with the equator.Today marks the peak of Pluto’s 2019 appearance. The distant world reaches opposition, which means it lies opposite the Sun in our sky and remains visible all night. It glows dimly at 14th magnitude, however, so you’ll need an 8-inch or larger telescope with good optics to spot it visually. Pluto currently lies in northeastern Sagittarius, some 1.9° northwest of the 6th-magnitude star 53 Sagittarii.The nearly Full Moon passes near Saturn tonight. The pair appears low in the southeast as darkness falls, with the magnitude 0.1 planet nestled about 2° to the Moon’s left. The two approach each other as the night progresses and come within 1° of each other as they dip low in the southwest before dawn. Saturn is a treat to view through a telescope on any other night this week. The ringed world currently shows an 18"-diameter disk surrounded by a striking ring system that spans 42" and tilts 24° to our line of sight.Full Moon arrives at 5:38 p.m. EDT. It rises in the southeast just as the Sun sets and reaches its peak in the south around 1:30 a.m. local daylight time. The Moon lies near the border between the constellations Sagittarius the Archer and Capricornus the Sea Goat. As the Moon makes its way across the sky tonight, residents across most of Europe, Africa, and Asia will see it pass through Earth’s shadow. This partial lunar eclipse runs from 20h01m to 23h00m UT. Maximum eclipse occurs at 21h31m UT, when 66 percent of the Moon lies in our planet’s shadow.