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Great Views Of Saturn

Posted by timothy on from the space-porn dept.

rehannan writes "Saturn is now a mere 750 million miles from earth; the closest point in it's 30-year orbit. Saturn's rings are facing earth this time around, which should make for some pretty good views. For more details, check out Space.com or the CNN article."

25 comments

  1. Numbskulls. by Trusty+Penfold · · Score: 0, Troll


    The story is that Saturn has its rings facing us.

    space.Com and cnn.Com both have pitcures of Saturn with the rings edge on.

    Does no-one make any sort of effort to be correct anymore?

    1. Re:Numbskulls. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does no-one make any sort of effort to be correct anymore?

      Said by the person who doesn't know how to use the phrase "no one" correctly.

    2. Re:Numbskulls. by CanSpice · · Score: 3, Informative

      Do you expect to see Saturn's rings face-on? The view of the rings changes from year to year, as you've implied. However, at no point do we ever see the rings directly face-on. At most we'd see them tipped about 28 degrees towards us, not the 90 you'd expect if they were directly face-on.

  2. I don't see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what's so hard about FP. I do it all the time by accedent.

  3. bork bork bork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bork bork bork!

  4. ISR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Soviet russians wring you!

  5. IN SOVIET RUSSIA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saturn looks at YOU!!

  6. Great views of saturn?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Man, I love that saturn pr0n

  7. Be sure to tune in next week... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...when you get to see a great close-up of Uranus!

  8. close isn't that much closer by bcrowell · · Score: 4, Interesting
    For Saturn, close isn't really that much closer than any other time. Saturn's orbit has a radius about 10 times Earth's, so the shortest distance between Earth and Saturn is only about 10% shorter than average.

    Now what's really going to be cool is Mars's opposition coming up in August, which is going to be the closest in thousands of years.

    I have a little planetarium applet that lets you play around and look at this kind of stuff.

    --
    Find free books.
    1. Re:close isn't that much closer by Spock+the+Baptist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Now what's really going to be cool is Mars's opposition coming up in August, which is going to be the closest in thousands of years"

      Yep...

      It ought to be a really striking opposition. This would be a good Christmas to get that promising young scientist a not so shine new telescope.

      Right after Santa pays a visit he/she can go outside and see great views of both Saturn, and Jupiter and still not miss their bedtime.

      A telescope, a microscope, and chemistry set, all on one Christmas morning! Not to mention that Radio 100 in 1 electronic experiment set!

      Ah! The joy of being a young nerd!

      --
      "Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex, I could pinch them." --Marvin the Martian
    2. Re:close isn't that much closer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      18% ;)

    3. Re:close isn't that much closer by rehannan · · Score: 2

      I think the biggest deal is the fact that teh rings are facing towards us more than they usually do. I was able to see the rings last night with a simple little telescope (not sure what the magnification was). It was pretty darn cool.

  9. IN ANCIENT GREECE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saturn puts its rings up URANUS!!!

  10. Stupid required subject field by PaddyM · · Score: 2

    My only view on Saturn is that Sega didn't do a good enough job marketing it.

  11. oxymoron by Transcendent · · Score: 4, Funny

    a mere 750 million miles

    =\

  12. great way to get some nice shots of saturn by evacuate_the_bull · · Score: 5, Informative

    webcam astronomy

    this guy has great instructions on how to "mod" your telescope for a webcam addition as well as documentation on how best to capture these images.

    this chance comes along about once a lifetime, take advantage of it!

    --
    Satanists get good grades too...suspiciously good grades
  13. The closest point in it is 30-year orbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Saturn is now a mere 750 million miles from earth; the closest point in it's 30-year orbit.

    it's = it is

    You want its.

  14. Great Views Of Saturn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better than great views of uranus...

  15. Help choosing a telescope? by Trane+Francks · · Score: 2

    It's a great idea and I'm totally stoked. This leads me to the very real problem of choosing an appropriate telescope. I got a 100x "department store" 'scope last year and it's barely useful for looking at the moon. There's too much chromatic abberation and the optics are plastic junk. My airline mileage club telescope has been more of a frustration than anything.

    I will confess that I'm partial to the Celestron 'scopes. Which Celestron scopes would be good to get a view of the rings? Please bear in mind that I live in Tokyo, so I'm entirely unsure of whether an equatorial mount is appropriate due to light pollution affecting my ability to sight on Polaris. Therefore, comments regarding the use of telescopes in bright areas are highly encouraged.

    Is it even possible within a bright city such as Tokyo to see Saturn and Jupiter?

    --
    ...a FreeDOS contributor: http://www.freedos.org/
  16. Saw it last night by Caractacus+Potts · · Score: 2

    Wow! Turns out I have a neighbor who has an 8" telescope. He set it up the other night in a nearby park and let passersby take a look at Saturn and Jupiter. With this size scope you can see the gaps in between Saturn's rings and multiple bands on Jupiter. No matter how many Hubble pictures you look at, it's still a great experience to see these things with you own eyes. There's currently a guy on eBay selling 284 6" scopes. Maybe one of them has my name on it...