Jupiter is at opposition on Sept. 21st, meaning the giant planet will be directly opposite the sun, soaring overhead at midnight with dazzling brilliance. In a coincidence of interplanetary proportions, Uranus is at opposition on the very same night! Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway caught the two converging during a geomagnetic storm on Sept. 15th:

Image
© Fredrik Broms
"It's amazing to be able to observe two giant planets next to each other--and never have I seen such a pair against a completely green background!" says Broms.

While Jupiter is outshining everything in the midnight sky (except the Moon), Uranus is barely visible to the naked eye. It's a difference of scale: Uranus is almost three times smaller than Jupiter and five times farther away. Nevertheless, Uranus is still a pretty sight. A telescope pointed at Jupiter on Sept. 21st will reveal the aqua-colored disk of Uranus less than a degree away. And if the sky turns green at the same time, well, that's just a bonus.

More images: from Jean-Paul Godard at Pic du Midi Observatory, France; from Tamas Ladanyi in the Bakony mountains of Hungary; from Peter Rosén of Stockholm, Sweden