Looking For Saturn's Lost Ring 11
An Onimous Cow Herd writes: "For the first time in 30 years, an occultation of Saturn will occur on Feb 20th (N.America/ W.Africa only).
The occultation will allow observers to confirm the existance of Saturns fabled lost ring (Schaer's Ring), first detected (but not confirmed) in 1908.
This link gives more information and advice on finding the ring."
This link gives more information and advice on finding the ring."
rings'n'stuff (Score:1, Funny)
dumb q (Score:1)
Re:dumb q (Score:2)
Off-topic, I know, but oh well.
Re:dumb q (Score:2)
Moon occulting Saturn is NOT rare (Score:2, Informative)
Here are pictures [spaceweather.com] from the Nov/Dec 2001 series on encounter, a few months ago!
Re:Moon occulting Saturn is NOT rare (Score:3, Informative)
So they don't happen quite as often as all that. Plus, it you want to see the planet do cool things, you want a Moon around new. Otherwise, the Moon's light washes out your ability to see much of the planet.
Unpredictable? (Score:2, Informative)
This suggests that the outer thin rings change in nature. They might be affected by the timing of moonlet collisions or ice volcanos on a nearby moon. IOW, there may be nothing to see at any given time.