Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
Saturn Forms Cosmic Triangle with Stars This Week
If you’re outside soon after nightfall this week — say around 10 p.m. your local time — you may notice a large and slender triangle high in the southern sky, a celestial geometry display of two stars and the brilliant ringed planet Saturn.
With the official start of summer in the [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.0,0.0&spn=0.01,0.01&q=45.0,0.0 %28Northern hemisphere%29&t=h]Northern Hemisphere[/url] right around the corner, you might think that you are looking at the famous Summer Triangle. But no, that particular pattern of threebright stars is only now emerging into view, low in the east-northeast.
So what is this other eye-catching triangle of three bright stars? It appears in the night sky as a triangle tipped to the left, with the vertex poised high above the base. The triangle itself seems to be pointing toward the point directly overhead (called the zenith). [Gallery: Amazing June Night Sky Photos]
Two stars, one planet, amazing sight
The Saturn triangle will appear to alter its shape in the weeks and months to come.
The planet in question is Saturn and it appears to glow a sedate yellow-white as one of the two “stars” in the base of the triangle. The other object is the bluish star Spica, in the constellation Virgo; Spica is on the right while Saturn is on the left. Saturn’s rings, visible in any telescope magnifying at least 30-power, are currently tilted 17.2 degrees, just about the smallest for this year. In the course of the next four years the rings will gradually “open out,” eventually reaching a maximum tilt toward Earth in October 2017.
The third star in the triangle is the brilliant yellow-orange Arcturus in the constellation, Boötes. The triangle will remain in view until around 2 a.m. local time. By then, Saturn and Spica will be low on the west-southwest horizon and will soon set. Arcturus will remain in view, however, until the break of dawn. More at Yahoo
Thanks to: http://aworldchaos.wordpress.com
If you’re outside soon after nightfall this week — say around 10 p.m. your local time — you may notice a large and slender triangle high in the southern sky, a celestial geometry display of two stars and the brilliant ringed planet Saturn.With the official start of summer in the [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.0,0.0&spn=0.01,0.01&q=45.0,0.0 %28Northern hemisphere%29&t=h]Northern Hemisphere[/url] right around the corner, you might think that you are looking at the famous Summer Triangle. But no, that particular pattern of threebright stars is only now emerging into view, low in the east-northeast.
So what is this other eye-catching triangle of three bright stars? It appears in the night sky as a triangle tipped to the left, with the vertex poised high above the base. The triangle itself seems to be pointing toward the point directly overhead (called the zenith). [Gallery: Amazing June Night Sky Photos]
Two stars, one planet, amazing sight
The Saturn triangle will appear to alter its shape in the weeks and months to come.
The planet in question is Saturn and it appears to glow a sedate yellow-white as one of the two “stars” in the base of the triangle. The other object is the bluish star Spica, in the constellation Virgo; Spica is on the right while Saturn is on the left. Saturn’s rings, visible in any telescope magnifying at least 30-power, are currently tilted 17.2 degrees, just about the smallest for this year. In the course of the next four years the rings will gradually “open out,” eventually reaching a maximum tilt toward Earth in October 2017.
The third star in the triangle is the brilliant yellow-orange Arcturus in the constellation, Boötes. The triangle will remain in view until around 2 a.m. local time. By then, Saturn and Spica will be low on the west-southwest horizon and will soon set. Arcturus will remain in view, however, until the break of dawn. More at Yahoo
Thanks to: http://aworldchaos.wordpress.com
