NEATORAMA HOME | LITE/MOBILE VERSION | BEST OF NEATORAMA

Saturn's Rings

By Miss Cellania in Science & Tech, Video Clips on Jul 10, 2008 at 5:44 pm



(YouTube link)

Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy Blog explains Saturn’s rings. You can’t see the rings with the naked eye, but you can see Saturn.

To the unaided eye, Saturn doesn’t look like much. It appears to be just another “star” — brighter than most, but still just starlike. In fact, you can see for yourself: over the next few days, go outside right after sunset and look west. You’ll see two of these “stars” very close together. One is Mars, the other Saturn. It’s hard to tell which is which: from a few hundred million kilometers away, Saturn’s signature rings are invisible with just your eye.

Bad Astronomy Blog has a new home at Discover Magazine. Link


Share


COMMENT
  1. Anthony
    Jul 10th, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    Saturn is a planet.

  2. CheeseDuck
    Jul 10th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    Saturn is not a planet. >=(

  3. Liz
    Jul 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    That is pretty neat. Saturn was my favorite planet as a kid.

  4. Anthony
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 12:41 am

    Mars is a planet.

  5. SenorMysterioso
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 1:12 am

    ot - couldnt get on neatorama all day :(

  6. Larfin Jackarse
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    I remember reading a sci-fi short story when I was a human about highly sophisticated aliens approaching Earthians about renting Jupiter to place a massive advertisement on it for passing spacecraft to see.

    The twist being that the humans figured that if they need to advertise then they must have a competitor and "just wait until they see Saturn and her rings" or some such.

    Anyone remember who wrote that?

  7. Larfin Jackarse
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 2:28 am

    ps: pleased to see I can post again. Has neato had a posting problem lately or am I just slow like my Mum says?

  8. Sofar
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 5:53 am

    Yay Bad Astronomer! He's so awesome.

  9. ted
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

    Saturn's fiancé couldn't afford a ring you could see from Earth.

  10. RM
    Jul 11th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    Wow, this is amazing!

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Lijit Search

T-SHIRTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP

WRITE YOUR OWN NEATORAMA POST
Got a neat story? Share it with the world by writing your very own Neatorama blog post with the Upcoming Queue. Who knows, you might just win something ...

Here's how to get started:
FAQ | Tips