I spent a lot of time trying to nail down the logical starting point for a little back yard star gazing, but finally realized that I’m not really in charge. Apparently, the universe waits for no one, so as we don’t want to miss anything, we’ll just dive right in.
Step 1: Wait ‘til it’s dark, then go outside and stand in it.
Step 2: Pick a spot away from any lights that may shine in your eyes; and on this occasion, with a good view to the south. It could be your own back yard (or your neighbour’s back yard if you’re really quiet), or a nearby park or open area.
Step 3: Look around
The first thing you’ll see is the Full Moon, whether you want to or not. As the second Full Moon of the month, this is a (once-in-a) ‘Blue Moon’. The last one was in August of 2012, and the next will occur in January of 2018. None of them will actually be blue.
More importantly, we have about a month to follow the planet Saturn before it disappears behind the Sun. Saturn can be found a little west of south about a hand-span above the horizon. It’s not overly bright, but significantly brighter than anything in its immediate neighbourhood. If you think that’s it, it’s probably it.
As with any planet, Saturn requires some optical aid for any detail. With binoculars in steady hands, the stellar dot will change to small oval. This may not seem like much, but it will appear exactly as it did to Galileo when he first trained his small telescope on it in 1610. He reported seeing ‘ears’, and decided they were closely orbiting moons.
To actually see the ‘ears’ requires a basic telescope, not available in the 1600’s. Saturn, at 10 times the Earth’s diameter, will not appear overly large, but its spectacular rings spread out more than twice the planet’s diameter. The entire ring system has a thickness of less than one kilometer, but a diameter of 282,000 km, or 35 Earths lined up shoulder to shoulder.
Mark Saturn down as a must-see, if not this summer, then in the near future. It’s a jaw dropper, made even better as it’s available from your own back yard.
