dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (09/06/84)
The crescent moon and Saturn are very near each other tonight. We'll tell you where to look for them -- after this. August 30 The Moon and Saturn The planet Saturn is near the crescent moon Thursday night on the dome of the sky. The moon will pass in front of the planet -- in an event called an occultation -- visible from east Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Observers in North America are too far north to be able to see the occultation. For us the moon will appear a little to the south of Saturn -- about half a degree away on the celestial dome. The crescent moon is only a few days past new -- and with Saturn's steady point of light so close, the planet and moon will be a pretty picture in the southwest after sunset Thursday. Saturn is the farthest planet we can see with the naked eye -- it appears to move the slowest against the background stars. The moon travels much more rapidly across the dome of the sky -- it takes only twenty-nine days to move all the way around the sky. You can see the difference between the motion of Saturn and the moon if you watch carefully for several hours Thursday night. Start at sundown -- when the planet and moon become visible in the southwestern twilight. Both objects are moving eastward against the stars -- but the distance between the two will appear to decrease as the hours pass. However, even the moon's rapid easterly movement is not fast enough to win the race against the turning Earth -- as our own planet's rotation carries us out of sight of both Saturn and the moon. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin