On the night of Wednesday, November 11, I went to the RLM. At 7:25 I observed Uranus at approximately 40 degrees in the east southeastern sky. It only appeared as a small whitish dot against a vast black background. I found it by looking directly into the lens where the astronomers had pointed the telescope in the sky.
Discovered in 1781, Uranus is the third largest planet in the solar system. Even though it is bright blue, it is still nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye because it is the seventh planet from the sun. The blue color is due to the composition, which is 83% hydrogen, 15% helium, and 2% methane. The methane absorbs red light, which is why we see the planet as a bluish-green color. The clouds of Uranus are similar to the