Explanation:
Very good telescopic
views of Saturn can be expected in the coming days
as the ringed planet
nears opposition on March 8th, its closest
approach to Earth in 2009.
Of course, opposition means opposite the Sun in planet
Earth's sky -
an arrangement that occurs almost yearly for Saturn.
But while Saturn itself grows larger in telescopic images,
Saturn's rings seem to be vanishing as
their tilt to our line-of-sight
decreases.
In fact, the rings will be nearly invisible, edge-on from
our perspective, by September 4.
Recorded on February 28, this sharp image was made with the 1 meter
telescope at
Pic Du Midi, a
mountain top
observatory in the French Pyrenees.
The rings are seen to be tilted nearly edge-on, but
remarkable details are visible in the gas giant's cloud bands.
The icy moon Tethys appears just beyond
the rings at the lower left.
digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090304.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
