dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (04/02/85)
The planet Saturn is now as bright as it'll get this year. More on why -- after this. April 2 Saturn Brightest The planet Saturn is currently bright -- as bright as it'll be all year. It's much more conspicuous than usual -- and you might be able to pick it out just by looking for a bright object, shining golden in color -- in the east several hours after sunset. If you know the star Antares in the constellation Scorpius, you can look just west of it for Saturn. Or you might wait until this coming Sunday night to look for Saturn, when the planet will be near the moon. Again, Saturn is now at its brightest for the year. But it's not as close to us now as it'll be next month, when Saturn reaches opposition -- and fleetingly comes abreast with the Earth in the race around the sun. Saturn is brighter now than next month because its wide system of encircling rings appears more open to us now. The rings of Saturn reflect sunlight, just as Saturn itself does. At the moment, the more open orientation of the rings combines with Saturn's fairly close distance to Earth to make Saturn look extra bright. In 1980, Saturn's rings appeared edge-on as seen from our world. Then, because the rings are so thin, we couldn't see them. Generally speaking, the rings will be most open with respect to Earth next in 1988. But they appear more open to us now than they will next month -- a subtle variation caused by Earth's own movement around the sun. So look for Saturn -- now at its brightest -- a golden light in the east some hours after the sun goes down. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin