All you astronomy freaks, take out you telescope and be prepared. Saturn is gonna be closest to Earth tomorrow. ICTMN reported that this is the closest Saturn has been to Earth in six years (putting it at about 746 million miles away, as opposed to one billion at its farthest), and a small telescope—even a cheapo department-store find, according to NASA—will net you your very own glimpse.
Saturn is in what’s known as opposition. This means that the sun, Earth and Saturn are aligned, with Earth in the middle—opposite the sun, in other words—and tilted at just the right angle for us to ogle its breathtaking rings. So this weekend, when the sun sets in the west, Saturn will rise in the east, and when the sun is farthest below the horizon, Saturn will reach its highest point above the horizon.
"The first impulse people have when they see Saturn for the first time is to say it is fake," said MacRobert, who writes the weekly column "This Week's Sky at a Glance." "It is almost too much of an icon. We've seen the image of that planet with the rings since we were kids, and to see the real thing -- some people can't believe it's real."
Read more: Saturn: Rain over Me!
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| Saturn's bright rings! |
Saturn is in what’s known as opposition. This means that the sun, Earth and Saturn are aligned, with Earth in the middle—opposite the sun, in other words—and tilted at just the right angle for us to ogle its breathtaking rings. So this weekend, when the sun sets in the west, Saturn will rise in the east, and when the sun is farthest below the horizon, Saturn will reach its highest point above the horizon.
"The first impulse people have when they see Saturn for the first time is to say it is fake," said MacRobert, who writes the weekly column "This Week's Sky at a Glance." "It is almost too much of an icon. We've seen the image of that planet with the rings since we were kids, and to see the real thing -- some people can't believe it's real."
Read more: Saturn: Rain over Me!
I hope you have seen the recent images of the storm on saturns north pole. Those images are brilliant!
ReplyDeleteYes I have seen the images. The hurricane is huge, just the eye covers over 2000 kilometers.
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