[Photo from April via EVG reader Spike]
Local astronomy buff Felton Davis passed along the following …
If it stays clear I will set up on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and East First Street tonight at 8:30, and try to focus in on the rings of Saturn.
Saturn
1) Saturn is the sixth planet out from the Sun, after Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter.
2) Saturn is the second largest planet, after Jupiter.
3) Saturn is 75,000 miles in diameter, with its rings bringing the total diameter to at least 150,000 miles.
4) Saturn is approximately 890 million miles from the Sun, about nine times as far from the Sun as Earth.
5) Saturn emits no light of its own. We're able to see it because sunlight bounces off it and is reflected back to Earth, taking about 45 minutes to reach us at the speed of light.
6) Saturn takes almost 30 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun, and therefore will be looping back and forth in the constellations Libra, Scorpius, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius and Capricornus during the next 10 years. It will not be high in the night sky like Jupiter until the late 2020s.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Searching for Comet ISON with East Village resident Felton Davis
Comet spotting with East Village resident Felton Davis
