Moon and Saturn

September 06, 2019

If you’ve heard this show and have had difficulty locating some of the targets, you’re not alone. Finding them takes practice. But anyone can find the moon. And before you go back to work on Monday, you might find some inspiration… by viewing Saturn through a telescope.

You see, on Sunday night, Saturn will be right next to the moon. That way you won’t have to triangulate or wait for a certain time of night… you can just look for the moon, then look to the right. That bright yellow point of light that doesn’t twinkle is Saturn. And you can observe Saturn from almost anywhere--even in the city. Almost any telescope will show the planet’s famous rings. Obviously the better the telescope, the better the view, but… even some toy telescopes might at least show you that this is no ordinary star. Through a small telescope, the rings may appear as two bright bulges on either side of a yellow disk. Through a slightly better telescope, the image is unmistakable, and you may even see its largest moon, Titan. Through a good telescope, you can see other, fainter moons, and what’s called the Cassini division--a space between the two most visible rings, named for Giovanni Cassini, the 17th Century Italian astronomer who first discovered it. Also of course the namesake for the famous NASA spacecraft that studied the planet.

Many people aren’t even aware that the rings of Saturn are visible from Earth--much less from our own backyards with simple consumer telescopes. And one good look at Saturn’s rings is enough to hook almost anyone on astronomy.

So on Sunday night… find the moon… then look to the right to find the jewel of the Solar System.