Saturn's Rings to Disappear Tuesday

In a celestial feat any magician would appreciate, Saturn will make its wide but thin ring system disappear from our view Aug. 11.

Saturn's rings, loaded with ice and mud, boulders and tiny moons, is 170,000 miles wide. But the shimmering setup is only about 30 feet thick. The rings harbor 35 trillion-trillion tons of ice, dust and rock, scientists estimate.

Source

Now that would be a sight to see.

I would like to hear everyones comments.

Somebody please video tape this .....Can't you do that on your telescope right?

Anyways it would be fun to see them disappear and the reappear later.....

I never knew it was only 30 ft thick......That seems like an underestimate to me....

I wonder if this is in any way related to what's being discussed in the other Saturn thread?

Something just punched a hole in Saturn's F-ring

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


Yea 30ft thick...I don't know, I'm pretty sure a lot of the "Small Moons" in it, are more than 30ft in diameter. Some pieces are as big as a house.

Anyway, I WISH I had a telescope! I'd love to see it, hopefully someone tapes it somewhere.

Originally posted by Alien Mind

In a celestial feat any magician would appreciate, Saturn will make its wide but thin ring system disappear from our view Aug. 11.

Saturn's rings, loaded with ice and mud, boulders and tiny moons, is 170,000 miles wide. But the shimmering setup is only about 30 feet thick. The rings harbor 35 trillion-trillion tons of ice, dust and rock, scientists estimate.

Source

Now that would be a sight to see.

I would like to hear everyones comments.

Wouldn't it be a sight to NOT see? Heh...just playin, nifty info

reply to post by Alxandro


As soon, as I saw this thread, my mind raced to that.

One can never be sure what causes, and effects.

reply to post by Trams


the reason the rings disappear is because saturn rotates on its axis just like the earth. in a few years time they will be at theyre maximum, its just a rotational anomaly.



sorry for bursting your bubble. lol

[edit on 11-8-2009 by connelly4245]

Originally posted by LucidDreamer85
Somebody please video tape this .....Can't you do that on your telescope right?

I'm supposed to have crappy weather just as it's getting dark enough to see saturn tonight, and saturn's low on the western horizon at dusk anyway. It'll just look like a wavy blob without its rings since it's in such a poor location for viewing. IF the weather surprises me I'll do a webcast tonight and post the link here in this thread at about 8:30pm eastern time. Personally I don't expect I'll be able to see anything tonight though.

[edit on 11-8-2009 by ngchunter]

Originally posted by Alxandro
I wonder if this is in any way related to what's being discussed in the other Saturn thread?

Something just punched a hole in Saturn's F-ring

Yes -- it is.

Saturn's rings are now not just "edge-on" as seen from Earth, but they are also more "edge-on" relative to the Sun. Therefore, because the rings ore more edge-on to the Sun, the shadows being cast by any perturbations of the material in the rings (i.e., up and down waves, objections sticking above and below the plane) will cast longer shadows than usual, and will thus be more visible to the Cassini spacecraft.

Saturn has been entering this "equinox" for some time, and Cassini has been photographing many natural ring anomalies -- anomalies that are now visible due to the long shadows -- for a few months now.

Originally posted by Alexander the Great
Anyway, I WISH I had a telescope! I'd love to see it, hopefully someone tapes it somewhere.

Not to be a killjoy, but wouldn't it simply look like a yellowish dot as seen from most telescopes on Earth?

I understand why an astronomer would think it very interesting in an "esoteric" way -- i.e., the planet is supposed to have visible rings, but now they can't be seen. However, beyond the esoteric, isn't the most interesting thing about Saturn to most average people its visible rings, and if the rings cannot be seen doesn't it just becomes a "boring dot" to most people looking through a telescope?

Of course, if it would be possible to videotape the rings going from visible to invisible back to visible again -- THAT would be interesting to see. However, I suspect that the process will be very slow and not noticeable. ngchunter -- do yo know how long the process takes (to go from visible to invisible)?

What I'm trying to say is, I don't think it is possible to "catch the moment" that the rings disappear.

[edit on 8/11/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
Of course, if it would be possible to videotape the rings going from visible to invisible back to visible again -- THAT would be interesting to see. However, I suspect that the process will be very slow and not noticeable. ngchunter -- do yo know how long the process takes (to go from visible to invisible)?

It depends on the resolution of your telescope. A cheap store bought scope probably hasn't seen the rings for the last few weeks or more. I still saw them about a month ago, though they were very thin (I've heard reports of ring sightings as late as 5 days ago). It will take about two months before we see could hypothetically see the rings again in most amateur telescopes; the sun is just now crossing saturn's ring plane, but our planet doesn't cross the ring plane until next month. That means that although we won't see the rings again right away, we'll be able to see the shadow of the rings projected onto the planet probably weeks ahead of time. You would need a time lapse of at least several days and probably weeks to definitively see the rings vanish or reappear; some nights where seeing is better you'll be able to resolve it better whereas on nights where seeing is poor they'll vanish sooner. In a time lapse it would probably look like a gradual reappearance if your atmospheric conditions are as variable as mine are, not a sudden magical point.

[edit on 11-8-2009 by ngchunter]

reply to post by connelly4245


Actually, after I saw the link, I knew it was the rotation. I was just saying that when I saw the thread title, my mind raced to a previous thread. Of course I knew the rings were very thin, but at first glance, I didn't think of that.