Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 8
Week 8 -- October 25: Saturn, the ringed planet
Syllabus | Class Roster
Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead
The strains of Holst's Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age greet the class that afternoon as they arrive. "Today we're going to talk about Saturn," Ellie said.
"Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant (also known as a Jovian planet, after the planet Jupiter), the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. It was named after the Roman god Saturn (the Greek equivalent is Kronos, father of Zeus).
"The rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with his telescope, but he was unable to identify them as such. He wrote to the Duke of Tuscany that 'The planet Saturn is not alone, but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones [the edges of the rings].' He also described Saturn as having 'ears.' In 1612 the plane of the rings was oriented directly at the Earth and the rings appeared to vanish, and then in 1613 they reappeared again, further confusing Galileo."
Ellie went on to talk about the composition of Saturn and its rings, and its many many moons. "There's Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System and a great candidate for life. And Mimas is very interesting, it has a huge impact crater 130 km across!
"No observation tonight because it's cloudy out. Remember, no class next week because of mid-term break, and your midterm project is due November 8th!"
Syllabus | Class Roster
Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead
The strains of Holst's Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age greet the class that afternoon as they arrive. "Today we're going to talk about Saturn," Ellie said.
"Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant (also known as a Jovian planet, after the planet Jupiter), the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. It was named after the Roman god Saturn (the Greek equivalent is Kronos, father of Zeus).
"The rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with his telescope, but he was unable to identify them as such. He wrote to the Duke of Tuscany that 'The planet Saturn is not alone, but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones [the edges of the rings].' He also described Saturn as having 'ears.' In 1612 the plane of the rings was oriented directly at the Earth and the rings appeared to vanish, and then in 1613 they reappeared again, further confusing Galileo."
Ellie went on to talk about the composition of Saturn and its rings, and its many many moons. "There's Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System and a great candidate for life. And Mimas is very interesting, it has a huge impact crater 130 km across!
"No observation tonight because it's cloudy out. Remember, no class next week because of mid-term break, and your midterm project is due November 8th!"