Looking For Saturn's Lost Ring

An Onimous Cow Herd writes: "For the first time in 30 years, an occultation of Saturn will occur on Feb 20th (N.America/ W.Africa only). The occultation will allow observers to confirm the existance of Saturns fabled lost ring (Schaer's Ring), first detected (but not confirmed) in 1908.
This link gives more information and advice on finding the ring."

Comments

Moon occulting Saturn is NOT rare

[Anonymous Coward]

The moon is a 1/2-degree diameter disk sweeping the sky in pretty much the same plane as the planets. So it occults planets and stars quite frequently.

Here are pictures from the Nov/Dec 2001 series on encounter, a few months ago!

Re:Moon occulting Saturn is NOT rare

[CheshireCatCO]

Well, yes, lunar occulatations are not rare, per se. They should be about as common as eclipses, over all (to within a factor of 10). But the Moon's orbit is inclined 15 degrees to the ecliptic (note: not to Earth's equator, but the ecliptic). That takes it substantially out of the plane of the solar system as seen from Earth. Occultations can only occur when the Moon is at its nodes (cross the ecliptic). That happens twice a month, but then you have to have a planet in the right 1/2 degree of sky at that time.

So they don't happen quite as often as all that. Plus, it you want to see the planet do cool things, you want a Moon around new. Otherwise, the Moon's light washes out your ability to see much of the planet.

Unpredictable?

[Tablizer]

(* Nine months after the Voyager 1, Voyager 2 arrived at Saturn. Between the two visits, the structure of Ring F had somehow changed dramatically. *)

This suggests that the outer thin rings change in nature. They might be affected by the timing of moonlet collisions or ice volcanos on a nearby moon. IOW, there may be nothing to see at any given time.