6 Years of Saturn
Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman
Posted on 09/04/2009 7:50:10 AM PDT by sig226
Explanation: Today, planet Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings. From the perspective of earthbound astronomers, Saturn's rings will be edge-on. The problem is, Saturn itself is now very close to the Sun, low on horizon after sunset, so good telescopic images will be difficult to come by. Still, this composite of Saturn views taken from 2004 - 2009 (lower right to upper left) illustrates the change in ring tilt over the last six years and includes a nearly edge-on ring view, based on images captured earlier this year. While Saturn's south pole is clearly seen in the sequence, particularly at the lower right, it will be hidden in the coming years. Saturn's north pole will be increasingly visible, along with the tilting rings, as the planet emerges this fall in the predawn sky.
Did it get bigger or did it multiply?
Looks like Saturn needs to wipe its bottoms.
My favorite thread every day. Thanks for posting.
What a great composite picture. Thanks for the ping.
Nuthin but net.
interesting read ( Andromeda galaxy ) from coast to coast this moring.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17728-milky-ways-twin-caught-dismembering-neighbour.html
It’s a string of agates. The composite images are colored and striated like some little statues I bought in Mexico many years ago.
This sort of imagery makes me want to go back to playing EVE Online... damn the $15/mo. charge!
Are you using their backgrounder program? It posts the APOD as your desktop background. Each day the APOD becomes your desktop background, complete with a clickable explanation of the image which is complete with links to other sites to further define the terms. Its awesome, but I can’t get it to work with Vista on my personal laptop.
No, I’m not using the program. I may check it out for home use this weekend.
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