Uranus starts 2010 in Aquarius but moves into Pisces mid January where it remains for the rest of the year. Neptune starts the year in Capricornus, advances into the opposite side of Aquarius to Uranus on March 24 but retreats back into Capricornus on August 14 whilst moving in a retrograde sense. It remains in Capricornus until after the start of 2011.

Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun on February 15 when it passes just south of the Sun. Uranus is in conjunction a month later on March 17. It will pass about half a degree to the south of the Sun.

The planets are too close to the Sun to observe for about a month either side of their conjunction date. After conjunction they are morning objects, rising before the Sun. At first they will be only briefly visible to the east in the morning sky before the onset of twilight. They will rise about 4 minutes earlier each day, 2 hours a month, and so become visible for longer during the night until opposition, when they are on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun.

Opposition dates are approximately 6 months after conjunction, August 20 in the case of Neptune while Uranus is at opposition on September 21, about 6 hours after Jupiter. At opposition the planets rise close to the time of sunset and set close to the time of sunrise, so are in the sky all night. They are due north (or south from the northern hemisphere) at close to local midnight.

Following opposition the planets will rise before sunset and setting before sunrise and so become well placed for viewing in the evening sky, until the end of the year.

Neptune reaches a stationary point on June 1 and again on November 7. The corresponding dates for Uranus are July 6 and December 6. Between these dates the planet will apparently be moving in a retrograde sense through the stars, that is towards the west rather than towards the east. The apparent backwards motion is due to the faster moving Earth overtaking the outer planets, which actually maintain a steady movement in an easterly direction around the Sun.

The magnitudes of the two planets only vary by about 0.2 during the year. At its brightest, for a month either side of opposition, Uranus has a magnitude of 5.7, making it faintly visible to the unaided eye from a dark site. Neptune's magnitude is about 7.8, so is readily visible in binoculars.

During much of 2009 Jupiter was close to Neptune, with conjunctions, when the distance becomes a minimum occurring on 3 occasions. The last was on December 21, so the two are still quite close at the beginning of 2010. During the first few months of 2010 the faster moving Jupiter will move away from Neptune and catch up with Uranus, resulting in a similar set of three conjunctions. The first, and closest, will be on June 8, with the two planets less than half a degree apart. A further conjunction takes place on September 19 with the two planets just over three-quarters of a degree apart. The final conjunction takes place on 4 January 2011 when the two planets will be close to half a degree apart.

The triple set is brought about by Jupiter first overtaking Uranus, then Jupiter's retrograde motion takes it back past the slower Uranus. Finally once Jupiter is moving forward again, it overtakes Uranus a second time. This motion is illustrated on the charts for Uranus

Conjunctions with the Moon occur at approximately 28 day intervals throughout the year. The minimum separation of Uranus and the Moon range from about 5.4° to 6°, while those of Neptune range from 3.3° to 4.2°. In all cases the planets are south of the Moon, that is above the Moon as seen from the southern hemisphere.