Which is the most beautiful planet of our solar system? If you're like most people, you will answer, “The ringed planet, Saturn.” And with that I must agree.
Saturn reaches its “opposition” point this year on Feb. 10, when it appears in our sky opposite the sun – rising in the east at sunset and glistening all night long – and is at its closest to Earth.
Right now, Saturn appears near the Sickle of Leo. You should have little trouble finding Saturn because it is the brightest object in the eastern sky after dark. It will be outshone only by the star Sirius in the southeast and the planet Venus in the west.
If you have a small telescope, this is definitely the time to aim it toward Saturn, for few telescopic sights are more spectacular. Not only is Saturn as close as it can get to the Earth (about 763 million miles), its rings are also tipped beautifully in our direction.
Even a telescope with a relatively low magnifying power of 30x will show the rings. A larger telescope with a higher magnification will show not only the rings but also the separations between them, known as the Cassini Divisions. In addition, Saturn's brightest moons – especially its largest, Titan – are visible with even the smallest of instruments.
The sight becomes even more breathtaking if you have an appreciation of what you're actually seeing. Saturn is a world made almost entirely of gasses, and it has a diameter about 9.5 times greater than the Earth's. Its rings – if they were brought to Earth – would span much of the space between our planet and the moon. And, though they appear solid to the eye, the rings are composed of billions of individual ice chunks – some as small as dust grains, some as large as mountains, and all revolving about the planet at some 50,000 miles per hour.
Just because the opposition occurs officially on Feb. 10 doesn't mean that this is the only date that Saturn will shine at its best. It will remain in our evening sky through midsummer, but during the next month, expect a truly spectacular sight to be visible through a small telescope.
If you don't have a telescope of your own, call your local planetarium or amateur astronomy club to see when their next public “star party” will be so you won't miss this remarkable apparition of Saturn.
© Copley News Service
