The only bright planets visible presently are Venus and Saturn. The rest are hidden by the Sun. Venus is convenient – the bright evening “star” which will be close to the Moon on Jan. 29 and 30. I will try to catch that this evening. And Saturn is also convenient for early risers, being fairly high in the Southern Sky in the constellation Leo.
The interesting thing about Saturn is that the rings are “on edge” – barely visible to Earth observers. This happens twice during its 29 year travel around the Sun. Every 15 years or so, the plane of the rings crosses the Earth to give this effect.
It’s funny – I missed it last time this happened in 1994 or 1995 – I was too busy teaching science at Caroline High! Isn’t that ironic? But in 1980 I saw it according to my wife. We had just gotten married on Jan 12 of that year and she remembers me dragging her out onto the deck at 3 A.M. to see “Saturn on Edge.” It was the first week of our marriage and it made her wonder, I am sure, what she had gotten herself into.
Well, I will try seeing it tonight again. I wonder if she will be romantic enough to join me? I’ll let you know.
Here is a composite picture from SkyAndTelescope.com that shows how it changes over time from less than a year ago. And there is an excellent picture of how it will look for the next 30 years on Wikipedia at Saturn’s rings, 2001-2029
Saturn now and 10 months ago
