Saturn’s Rings: Now You See Them, Soon You Won’t
Posted by BC on April 1st, 2008
What first comes to mind when you hear the name Saturn? Rings, right? If the rings are what you want to view, you should do it soon. In September of next year you won’t see them, at least for awhile.
What we are witnessing is called a ring-plane crossing, and we see it every 14 to 15 years. As Saturn orbits the Sun the rings are periodically tipped edge-on as viewed from Earth. Viewing a ringless Saturn causes some confusion with people who are not familiar with planetary motions. The traditional view is what people expect, but the new view provides us with a great opportunity to introduce some physics to a potentially new audience.
I plan to brush up on the laws, clean up the cameras, and organize some public sessions for the magic of planetary motion.
For more information, go to the NASA link about the vanishing rings.
2 people have commented
Matthew Ota said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
While we all like to look at Saturn’s lovely rings, we can take advantage of the ring plane crossing by looking at Saturn’s satellites instead.
Saturn’s ring cycle is so long that it is one of the astronomical cycles that a serious amateur astronomer has to plan for across a lifetime of observing…
Astronomy This’n’that « Mr. B’s Science Gateway said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 3:53 am
[…] Saturn’s rings: now you see them, soon you won’t (courtesy: Astronomy Today) What first comes to mind when you hear the name Saturn? Rings, right? If the rings are what you want to view, you should do it soon. In September of next year you won’t see them, at least for awhile. […]
