Astronomy Buff

Saturn is Checking Out the Moon’s Backside Tonight

by Tony on February 2nd, 2007

I know, these headlines are over the top aren’t they? Whatever am I going to do with me? At least it’s kinda relevant (if not a little strange) because this is February, the month of love and oogling, and there’s some serious oogling going on between Saturn and the Moon right now. Well, at least from Saturn.

Go outside in the early evening tonight and you’ll see what I mean. Low over the eastern horizon, if it’s clear where you are, you’ll see what I’m talking about (well, of course if its clear! That goes without saying doesn’t it? You’re not gonna see much if it’s cloudy, you wanker).

Yes, well anyway, the Moon is inching in front of Saturn as it progresses in it’s somewhat complicated 27.3 day dance with the Earth tonight.

I urge you to push pause on your Tivo and take a few minutes to watch this celestial version of Desperate Housewives, where tonight you might even hear Saturn whistle at and say naughty things to the Moon behind her back. It’s cool though, she knows she loves it, she really plays it up for Saturn.

You won’t need any special equipment, you’ll be able to see this with your naked eye (heh, heh, he said naked…). Sigh. As I was saying, if you have a pair of binoculars though, this’ll be quite impressive. It’s also the perfect thing to look at if you’re a beginner with a new telescope. Use the lowest magnification you have to get the full field of view. This is definitely a low magnification event.

Here’s a somewhat more boring version of the same thing I just told you over at Space.com, where oddly enough, they never mention the sexual tension between these two. Remember, you heard it here first, this is the kind of thing you notice when you have a skewed perspective.

Eastern Horizon for February 2, 2007 as seen in the early evening.
Click on above image for full resolution.

Technorati Tags: full moon, night sky, observing, saturn

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POSTED IN: dont' make me use the spank ray, observing the night sky, planets