Back on December 8, Mars was close to Neptune, but Neptune was still pretty hard to spot.Well, during the next couple evenings, Mars is passing by Uranus. Uranus is easy to spot in binoculars, compared to Neptune, even with the Moon hanging out nearby. Sandra and I spotted Uranus Saturday evening, no problem.
On Sunday evening, the crescent moon is near Mars. Mars is to the north of the Moon, or to the Moon's right, if you are looking west. Once you use the Moon to find Mars, you can use your binoculars aimed at Mars to spot Uranus.I've taken screen shots from the free software Stellarium, (highly recommended) that show where Mars is compared to Uranus, on Sunday through Wednesday evenings. The bright star to the left of Mars is easy to spot, as is the right triangle that Uranus is part of. You won't see the dimmer stars shown on these screen shots, especially with the Moon nearby.
Uranus doesn't move with respect to the Stars, but the Moon is zooming Eastward from night to night, with respect to the stars, and Uranus.
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