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Vanishing Saturn
The breathtaking ringed planet will vanish behind Earth's moon on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Some astronomers will be watching carefully for Saturn's "lost ring."
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February 19, 2002
Seeing Saturn through a telescope is wonderful. Seeing it disappear is even better.
Sky watchers in parts of North America will have a chance to do both on Wednesday, Feb. 20th, when the Moon glides in front of the ringed planet -- an event astronomers call a "lunar occultation."
"Observers in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada will have the best view of the occultation," says NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams. "There, Saturn will vanish behind the Moon just after sunset and reappear about an hour later."
Photographer Peter Paice of Northern Ireland captured this photo of Saturn disappearing behind the Moon on Nov. 3, 2001. See more from SpaceWeather.com.
The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) has prepared tables of local disappearance times and reappearance times for more than 300 North American cities. A useful map is also available from Sky & Telescope magazine.
Across much of the United States and all of Mexico, the occultation will occur (in part or entirely) during daylight hours. Astronomer Clay Sherrod says that shouldn't stop sky watchers who want to observe the occultation. "Saturn is one of the toughest daylight objects," he cautions. "Its color and contrast are almost identical to that of a fairly hazy day. The best way to find Saturn is to find the Moon first -- easily done -- then trace along its dark eastern edge until you spot the planet through your telescope."
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Cheers,
Dan
Vanishing Saturn . . .