Maybe a silly question, but are the rings locked to Saturn’s rotation axis? I.e. is it the rings that tilted or both rings and planet?
From the planet itself they would appear stationary, yes. From basically any other solar system body they change because basically everything orbits at wonky angles.
Thank you!
I love showing people Saturn. Clearly visible even with city light pollution, and rings can be resolved even with cheap hardware.
Kind of nuts how long people can live without ever seeing the rings for themselves.
I saw Saturn at an observatory long before I had my own telescope, but that heart-skip-a-beat moment the first time you see Saturn with your own telescope is like nothing else.
I remembering bringing my 5" dobson to a work retreat camping trip. Everyone was pretty boozed up to the point where they were struggling to keep their eyes steady in the eyepiece.
When one of my coworkers finally got everything lined up he just blurted out “HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT’S SATURN!”
It was great.
Oh man, I always wanted a dobs. They were significantly more expensive than Newtonians when I was shopping around (not sure if that’s still true, this was the 90s), so I ended up with a Newtonian.
I think you’re mixing up names. Dobson is the name of the mount, and since they’re most commonly used on Newtonians, it’s kind of become shorthand. My 5" and 12" are both Newtonian reflectors on Dobson mounts.
Maybe you’re thinking of a Schmidt Cassegrain?
I honestly don’t remember, it’s been so long since I’ve been into telescopes. But you obviously know your stuff, so you’re right.
It’s just getting more and more hidden in Oblivion
What does this mean for my horoscope?
Your penis will shrink
Mostly that it’s still nonsense.
Spoken like a Capricorn
We Capricorns are naturally skeptical of horoscopes.
Just like a Sagittarius to say. Or was it… Leo? It was definitely one of those, though.
This is all, of course, very very real. /s
Spitting hard facts here
It means everyone is probably getting sick around here and having bad days because Mercury is in retrograde. At least, that’s what my co-worker once said in front of like fifteen people.
I’ve heard stupider believe it or not. Once some co-workers and I went outside to see the ISS pass overhead and one of them said “can they see the Earth from up there?”
I forgot to mention- this woman was the chief news anchor for the local evening TV news.
I think Mercury’s been in retrograde for a really long time, can we ask the astrologers to fix it so the world can go back to being sane?
I literally just got into astrophotography and found this out pretty recently. Still nice to see, but it does suck that I’ll have to wait a few years to get cooler pictures!
This is just with my phone and an 8" reflector telescope on a manual dobsonian base (touched up in gimp):
Looks great! Do you do image stacking? You might look into that. I did microscope photography and used it, but it’s also used for astrophotography.
Thanks! That image isn’t stacked, but I am just getting into learning about all of that. I think I’m having an issue with clarity (I’m just using my pixel 8 pro and a cheapo phone adapter hooked up to my telescope) so the stacking software I’ve tried isn’t picking up on most frames.
If I have to begrudgingly thank Trump for anything, it’s pushing me to buy a seestar s50 now before prices go up with the tarrifs so I’ll be getting much better images soon! Not for planets though lol It’s mostly for deep space objects.
You can probably get a pretty decent Canon or Nikon SLR for cheap on eBay, especially now that everyone is going mirrorless.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll have to look into that! I know I’ll be somewhat limited with the seestar so it would be nice to have a good camera too.
Flat Saturn confirmed!
Flat Saturn confirmed!
Flaturn.
Oh my god, in a few years we’ll lose them completely!
Super cool!
Nobody warned me that 2018 was the best time to see Saturn!
6 years before the rings are aligned at a good angle to earth again?
More like 7y, most edge view will be Nov 2025 then they’ll slowly come back into view.
It’s close to the moon atm if you have a decent pair of binoculars or a telescope
Where are you from? That can depend on the location.
Location on Earth will change timing for really precise events like occultations. Location on Earth will not affect any DSO’s visual “closeness” to the moon, especially not at the low zoom scale of binoculars. Hemisphere will only change which is on top. At 1/40th the distance to the moon, moving from pole to pole only changes the view the amount standing 1 foot to the left changes the view of an object 40ft away
Hey sorry everyone totally right Northern Hemisphere Europe
And the hemisphere.
Difficult to identify one’s location without giving away the hemisphere.
Not if the answer is Perth.
I get the joke, assuming you’re being tongue in cheek, but when that ambiguity still remains, one’s location is still not given. Hemisphere is a subset of all locations, so superfluous information. But yeah, I was just kidding around.
Yeah, likewise :-)
And you’re right of course.
By having the location specified I would know the hemisphere too
Reminded me of this guy.
When Oryx activated his super weapon, he inadvertently affected Saturn’s axis…
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