11/9/2022 0 Comments Telescope glimpses freefloating![]() Telescope glimpses freefloating free#I was blown away, and the knowing grin on my friend's face when I finally tore myself free made me realize that my experience was not unique. An illustration of the size of Saturn compared to Earth. Its comparatively small size through the eyepiece didn't matter in the slightest-I was watching a monster planet more than a billion kilometres away, a gas giant with a solid iron and rock core, a world that could fit more than 760 Earths inside. It's hard to describe how it feels to see something so magnificent, normally cloaked to our vision, just free-floating in the void, knowing that it is not a simulation or photo. Nevertheless, when I peeked through the lens I had trouble believing what I was seeing. On a personal level, this author viewed Saturn for his first (and only) time in the early 1980s through a friend's small telescope from the vantage point of a balcony in the centre of Vancouver's West End, possibly one of the worst places in the Lower Mainland from which to view stars or planets due to the concentrated light pollution from all directions, including streetlights, highrises, and downtown buildings. If you have never personally looked through a telescope eyepiece and seen a planet, it is difficult to convey the emotions stirred by such a simple action. (As the moon dips closer to the horizon tonight and tomorrow, that will be Mars to its right as well.) Look for the moon high in the sky and you will easily spot Saturn nearby on the right (given clear skies, as always) for a few days after June 27. Telescope glimpses freefloating full#Whenever the moon is full (when it is also in opposition to the sun), you have a good indication as to where to find an outer planet in opposition as well. Wait, though, until it is high in the night sky before trying to photograph it or view it through binoculars or a telescope. Look for the planet to rise in the east when it starts getting dark and to set in the west in the morning. (The exact moment of opposition actually happened on Wednesday, but Saturn will be visible to the unaided eye for another couple of months as it slowly dims.) NASA ![]() Sometimes they are low on the horizon, other times arrayed around our moon during its various phases, but some of the distant planets, like Jupiter (the largest) or Saturn, are not as easy to pick out among the many stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and beyond, where even other galaxies vie for attention.īut right now is the best time to see Saturn and its famed rings, as the legendary planet is in "opposition", meaning that it is at its closest approach to Earth for the year, while the sun is at the opposite side of our planet. The "red" colour of Mars is discernible with the naked eye, if you know where and when to look, and Venus's ultrabright presence is a familiar one. It just depends on the time of year and where they are in relation to the Earth and the sun. Sometimes you can see one, sometimes a "companion" or two, and sometimes, spectacularly, three, four, or even five. Most people don't know that you can see virtually all the planets in our solar system just by glancing skyward at night. ![]()
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