This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, May 9, through Sunday, May 11, written by Alan French. Saturday, May 10, is National Astronomy Day. It will be celebrated at miSci, the Museum of Innovation and Science, on Nott Terrace Heights. There will be indoor astronomy activities, planetarium shows, and a chance to win a telescope. Weather permitting there will be solar observing through safe, properly filtered solar telescopes, provided by the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers and Dudley Observatory. Museum admission is $6.50 for children from 3 to 12, $9.50 for those over 12, and $8.00 for senior citizens (65 and older). Admission to a planetarium show is $5.00. Other Astronomy Day activities are included with admission. A waxing gibbous Moon will dominate this weekend’s night sky. Look for Mars near the Moon on Saturday night and again on Sunday night. Mars will be closest to the Moon on Saturday night. Saturn reaches opposition early Saturday. Opposition simply means the ringed planet is opposite the Sun in the sky. The planet is highest and due south just before 1am in the morning. At 10 pm you’ll find it twenty degrees above the southeastern horizon. Its lovely rings are visible in any telescope magnifying about 30 times, as is its brightest Moon, Titan, appearing as a star near the planet. On Friday night at 10 pm Titan will be south southwest of the planet, or below and to the right. By Saturday night Titan will be west southwest of the planet, and by Sunday its orbital journey will have taken it almost due west of Saturn. Many telescope flip or invert the view of the sky, so take the changed orientation into account. Unlike Jupiter, which sports four large moons visible in any telescope and many more that are beyond the reach of most amateur telescopes, several more moons around Saturn come into view with larger telescopes. Rhea is fairly easy and so are Tethys and Dione. Iapetus is not difficult, but is almost two magnitudes brighten when it is on the western side of the planet than when to the east. It is tidally locked so that one face always faces Saturn, and one hemisphere is much darker than the other. Mimas and Enceladus are challenging targets for experienced observers, as is Hyperion. Planetarium programs and apps generally show the positions of Saturn’s moons, and can be configured to show the same orientation as your telescope.
Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2014 18:52:16 +0000
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