Philosophy
A Christmas treat via compliments of Saturn. So get up before sunrise and with the aid of a telescope [which might be under the tree] view a Saturn with nearly no rings. And, at that early hour, you might meet "the man".
You look through the telescope. Blink. Shake your head and look again. The planet you expected to see in the eyepiece is not the one that's actually there. Too much eggnog? No, it's just Saturn's crazy Christmas tilt.
All year long, the rings of Saturn have been tilting toward Earth and now they are almost perfectly edge-on. The opening angle is a paper-thin 0.8o. Viewed from the side, the normally wide and bright rings have become a shadowy line bisecting Saturn's two hemispheres--a scene of rare beauty.
Amateur astronomer Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, has been monitoring Saturn and he created this composite image to show how the geometry has changed.
Astronomers call the phenomenon a "ring plane crossing." As Saturn goes around the sun, it periodically (once every 14 to 15 years) turns its rings edge-on to Earth. Because the rings are so thin, they can actually disappear when viewed through a backyard telescope. At the precise moment of crossing, Saturn undergoes a startling metamorphosis. The ringed planet becomes a lonely ball of gas, almost unrecognizable....
(Historical note: Shortly after Galileo discovered Saturn's rings in 1610, they disappeared in precisely this fashion. Galileo didn't understand the nature of the rings and the vanishing act confused him mightily. Nevertheless, his physical intuition prevailed. "They'll be back," he predicted, and without ever knowing why, he was correct.)
We're not quite there yet. The opening angle won't be precisely 0o until Sept. 4, 2009. Don't bother marking your calendar, though. Saturn will be so close to the sun, no one will be able to see the rings wink out.
The best time to look is now.
The 0.8o opening angle of Christmas 2008 is the minimum for some time to come. In January 2009 the rings begin to open up again, a temporary reversal caused by the orbital motions of Earth and Saturn. By the time narrowing resumes in summer 2009, Saturn will be approaching the sun; looking through a telescope then could actually be dangerous. The next ring plane crossing that's easy to watch won't come until 2038.
So wake up before sunrise on Dec. 25th, point your telescope at the golden "star" in Leo, and behold Saturn's crazy Christmas tilt....
- Wonders Of The Solar System - Order Out Of Chaos
Taken as a whole, the solar system is a remarkable display of patterns and order: the sun sits at the center, planets rotate around it in regular and predictable orbits, and moons do the same around the planets. The very look of it superficially resembles...
- If Earth Had Rings Like Saturn
I personally think that the first time you see the planets through an ordinary telescope, Saturn takes the cake as the most beautiful to watch, and it can all be explained in two words: planetary rings. Imagine how beautiful and interesting the sky would...
- Awesome Saturn Storm
"Monster storm reveals water on Saturn" A thunderstorm bigger than our planet churned Saturn's atmosphere like an egg beater, reaching deep into Saturn's gassy interior and flinging water up to the ammonia-gas cloudtops. by Liz Fuller-Wright...
- February Skys Yield Five Naked Eye Planets
What a treat...five planets that will be visible to the naked eye. "Doorstep Astronomy: Spot 5 Planets" by Joe Rao February 13th, 2009 SPACE.com This month you'll have an opportunity to see all five naked-eye planets – but not all at once. Two...
- Galileo's Unilateral Myopia/creeping Angle Closure Glaucoma
"One of the "errors" that Galileo made...is that he believed Saturn was not perfectly round but may have had an irregular, inflated side." So postulates Paolo Galluzzi the director of the Museum of History and Science in Florence. He and Peter Watson...
Philosophy
Saturn loses rings on Christmas morning--NAW
A Christmas treat via compliments of Saturn. So get up before sunrise and with the aid of a telescope [which might be under the tree] view a Saturn with nearly no rings. And, at that early hour, you might meet "the man".
"Saturn's Crazy Christmas Tilt"
by
Dr. Tony Phillips
December 22nd, 2008
Science@NASA
by
Dr. Tony Phillips
December 22nd, 2008
Science@NASA
You look through the telescope. Blink. Shake your head and look again. The planet you expected to see in the eyepiece is not the one that's actually there. Too much eggnog? No, it's just Saturn's crazy Christmas tilt.
All year long, the rings of Saturn have been tilting toward Earth and now they are almost perfectly edge-on. The opening angle is a paper-thin 0.8o. Viewed from the side, the normally wide and bright rings have become a shadowy line bisecting Saturn's two hemispheres--a scene of rare beauty.
Amateur astronomer Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, has been monitoring Saturn and he created this composite image to show how the geometry has changed.
Astronomers call the phenomenon a "ring plane crossing." As Saturn goes around the sun, it periodically (once every 14 to 15 years) turns its rings edge-on to Earth. Because the rings are so thin, they can actually disappear when viewed through a backyard telescope. At the precise moment of crossing, Saturn undergoes a startling metamorphosis. The ringed planet becomes a lonely ball of gas, almost unrecognizable....
(Historical note: Shortly after Galileo discovered Saturn's rings in 1610, they disappeared in precisely this fashion. Galileo didn't understand the nature of the rings and the vanishing act confused him mightily. Nevertheless, his physical intuition prevailed. "They'll be back," he predicted, and without ever knowing why, he was correct.)
We're not quite there yet. The opening angle won't be precisely 0o until Sept. 4, 2009. Don't bother marking your calendar, though. Saturn will be so close to the sun, no one will be able to see the rings wink out.
The best time to look is now.
The 0.8o opening angle of Christmas 2008 is the minimum for some time to come. In January 2009 the rings begin to open up again, a temporary reversal caused by the orbital motions of Earth and Saturn. By the time narrowing resumes in summer 2009, Saturn will be approaching the sun; looking through a telescope then could actually be dangerous. The next ring plane crossing that's easy to watch won't come until 2038.
So wake up before sunrise on Dec. 25th, point your telescope at the golden "star" in Leo, and behold Saturn's crazy Christmas tilt....
- Wonders Of The Solar System - Order Out Of Chaos
Taken as a whole, the solar system is a remarkable display of patterns and order: the sun sits at the center, planets rotate around it in regular and predictable orbits, and moons do the same around the planets. The very look of it superficially resembles...
- If Earth Had Rings Like Saturn
I personally think that the first time you see the planets through an ordinary telescope, Saturn takes the cake as the most beautiful to watch, and it can all be explained in two words: planetary rings. Imagine how beautiful and interesting the sky would...
- Awesome Saturn Storm
"Monster storm reveals water on Saturn" A thunderstorm bigger than our planet churned Saturn's atmosphere like an egg beater, reaching deep into Saturn's gassy interior and flinging water up to the ammonia-gas cloudtops. by Liz Fuller-Wright...
- February Skys Yield Five Naked Eye Planets
What a treat...five planets that will be visible to the naked eye. "Doorstep Astronomy: Spot 5 Planets" by Joe Rao February 13th, 2009 SPACE.com This month you'll have an opportunity to see all five naked-eye planets – but not all at once. Two...
- Galileo's Unilateral Myopia/creeping Angle Closure Glaucoma
"One of the "errors" that Galileo made...is that he believed Saturn was not perfectly round but may have had an irregular, inflated side." So postulates Paolo Galluzzi the director of the Museum of History and Science in Florence. He and Peter Watson...