Event Date: November 17th
Time: 6:30 AM
Brief
As we look towards the morning sky, Saturn has emerged quickly from the glare of the Sun for a fine apparition-- although only 20º separated from our star. Saturn is 8º further north than the Sun, and becoming a little further north each day until the December solstice, when the Sun stops moving south. At the same time, Saturn is moving quickly in pro-grade motion during these post-conjunction weeks and therefore, slightly dipping in declination as well, along with the Sun. Looking at the image below, I included the celestial path of Saturn to show the declination drop, with the celestial equator and grid as well, to compare. The path covers the last 30 days, with the dot markers 10 days apart, in increment. [Virgo's brighest] star Spica, featured earlier this month, is shown, as well as Venus not far from Saturn.
Detailed
More importantly when viewing Saturn, we have an outstanding view of Saturn's rings for the next 8-9 months, while it becomes higher to see in first the morning sky, and then the evening sky. Eventually of course, late next year, it reaches its next conjunction and low when finally easily visible in a telescope with darkening skies. Between now and then, notice how we are viewing the planet near its middle latitude, as opposed to the equator; for the latter scenario, in late 2008-early 2009, the rings were edge-on, with only the shadow on the disc visible. While seeing more of the rings means seeing less of one of the hemisphere's bands, the rings are unarguably the most popular feature of the planet, made up of billions of icy particles. Although the software cannot zoom in that closely, I can show the ring angle as seen from Earth, with a magnification of about 350x. Being as low as it still is, good seeing conditions (little wind) are ideal for such an increase to have less turbulence/distortion.
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click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.
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