Uranus is at its best this month. Here's how to see it throughout November 2025

Dim planet Uranus is extremely well placed for observation in November 2025.

It reaches opposition on 21 November and sits 4.5° south of the Pleiades open cluster, M45.

This makes it easier to locate than in recent years.

Here we'll reveal all you need to find and observe Uranus at its best this month.

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In November 2025, Uranus is shining at mag. +5.6, which means it should definitely be possible to see with the naked eye from a dark-sky site.

With optical assistance, Uranus’s vast distance means you’ll see little more than a tiny, green-hued disc through the eyepiece.

In binoculars, it looks just like a sixth-magnitude star, with the planet’s characteristic colour being barely discernible.

A small telescope will fare better, the colour showing quite well.

You’ll need at least 100x magnification to resolve Uranus’s disc, though you shouldn’t expect to see any detail.

Larger apertures combined with steady seeing conditions and high magnification may show the disc to have areas of different brightness intensities.

Experience helps here, as this banding can be extremely subtle.

Large-aperture imaging setups may record this detail too, especially when using filters that emphasise green contrast – typically deep-red filters.

Seeing Uranus's moons

Uranus’s brightest moons – Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon – are also viable targets for amateur equipment.

You’ll need a good image scale (magnification) to see or record them, and if imaging, be prepared to overexpose the planet.

Miranda poses the greatest challenge: it remains close to Uranus’s glare and is slightly dimmer than the others.

While Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon hover around 14th magnitude, Miranda shines at mag. +16.4.

Share your observations and images with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com