Uranus at opposition 2026: how to find the green-blue planet

Uranus reaches opposition on November 25, 2026, at about 22:40 UTC. At opposition, Earth is between Uranus and the Sun. So Uranus is up all night, and it is at its brightest of the year.

Brightest is not very bright. Uranus is at magnitude 5.6. Under a very dark sky, a person with good eyes can just see it without help. With binoculars, it is easy to see, if you know where to look.

When to look

On the night of opposition, the full Moon is near Uranus in the sky. Its light hides faint things. So do not look that week.

Wait for the Moon to leave the evening sky. The best nights are from about December 2 to December 14. Uranus is almost as bright then as at opposition.

Uranus is highest near midnight. It gets high from the north: about 60 degrees in London and 70 degrees in New York. From Sydney, it gets about 35 degrees high, in the north.

Where to look

Uranus is in Taurus, about 5 degrees from the Pleiades, a small cluster of stars that looks like a tiny dipper.

1. Find the Pleiades. They rise in the east in the evening.
2. Point your binoculars a little south-east of the Pleiades.
3. Look for a “star” with a faint green-blue color. That is Uranus.

The live sky map draws Uranus only under a very dark sky setting, because it is so faint. Read more on the Uranus opposition page.

Where to go

Uranus is faint, so a dark sky helps a lot. Find a park or a reserve in our list of stargazing places.

How far away it is

On November 25, Uranus is at its closest to Earth this year, about 2,760 million km away. Its light takes about 2 and a half hours to reach you.

Uranus was the first planet found with a telescope. William Herschel saw it in 1781. Before that, people knew only the planets they could see with their eyes.