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April is Global Astronomy Month, and as a highlight, the “Lord of the Rings” is back prominently in the night sky! This past weekend, Saturn reached opposition, when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit. Opposition means Saturn is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, so it rises in the east at sunset and sets in the west at sunrise – meaning it will be in the sky all night long! Saturn is also the only planet visible before midnight in April. But the beautiful ringed planet will be looking even brighter that it has been for the past few months.
Special thanks to Efrain Morales Rivera for sending us this montage of Saturn images, showing a current view of Saturn in the middle and the ringed planet at oppositions from the last six years.
Around opposition there is a phenomenon known as the Seeliger Effect, which might actually be a couple of different effects combining to enhance the brightness of Saturn: Since the Earth is smack dab in the middle of the Sun and Saturn, sunlight is coming from directly behind us and directly at Saturn. And there’s also the phenomenon called coherent backscattering, which is where if you shine a beam of light at something that is made from a lot of separate particles (like Saturn’s rings) the light is reflected back with greater intensity from the direction directly opposite the beam. The middle image of Saturn in the montage above reveals brighter rings from the Seeliger Effect, as well as highlighting the ‘Serpent storm’ in the northern hemisphere.
You can read more about the Seeliger Effect on AstroBob’s website.
This is also a great time to try and see some of Saturn’s moons, too.
Astronomers Without Borders are sponsoring a special Saturn Watch event April 11-16. See their website for more information about “Saturn Watch” and activity suggestions.
Here are more Saturn resources.
There are also several other fun observing events for Global Astronomy Month:
On April 9 the Global Star Party will unfold as darkness sweeps around the Earth. This is the night to set up your telescopes and share the wonders of the sky with others.
From April 10 to 16 it’s Lunar Week, to turn your gaze turns toward Earth’s natural satellite, and take a close-up look the Moon’s craters and “seas”.
April 12th is Yuri’s Night — and a very special one too, as it is the 50th anniversary of the first human in space.
April 17 is SunDay, highlighting our very own star.
The month closes with the Lyrid Meteor shower. On April 21/22 get comfortable in something warm and spend
the night scanning the sky for meteors caused by debris left behind by Comet Thatcher.
See more on the Global Astronomy Month website.
You can hear a podcast about Dark Skies Month on the April 5th 365 Days of Astronomy podcast.
Saturn AND Jupiter are both acting out! Recent storms at Saturn and missing bands at Jupiter indicative of the strength of the approaching solar maximum? Why else might both gas giants be displaying such great internal upheaval?
What makes you think it has anything to do with the solar activity?
In the interim between solar maximums Sol’s magnetic field reverses direction. Jupiter and Saturn have HUGE magnetic fields which one day, astronomers expect, are going to flip. Aslo, ss Sol’s mag. field reverses Jupiter and Saturn have begun emitting radio frequency bursts indicating an interaction w/Sol deep within their respective fields….
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/20feb_radiostorms/
No where in this article is there a link between solar activity and flipping of the magnetic field of the Jovian system.
See excerpt.
Jupiter’s magnetosphere is huge. It’s about 10 times wider than the sun, and its tail, stretched out by the solar wind, extends far beyond Saturn. One day, astronomers expect, this vast magnetosphere is going to flip. The Sun’s magnetic field reverses polarity every 11 years; Earth’s magnetic field flips, too, every 300,000 years on average. This seems to be normal behavior for magnetic dynamos in stars and planets. When will Jupiter’s field flip?
You are confusing the possibility of flipping by Jupiter, with an example that the sun is flipping its fields.
Time will tell… lets wait a couple years and see what happens? ~@; )
You could wait 300,000 years.
That last link is dated but generally describes the cause for recent radio activity..