Saturn: The Magic Planet
On Earth twice each year it's residents celebrate the equinox - the time when the sun's rays fall directly on the equator. But not all planets are created equal.
On Saturn it takes 29 Earth years to achieve what Earth does in one - make one circuit around the sun. As a result; Saturn has an equinox event every 15 years. But what makes this even so special on Saturn is that the planet has rings.
Saturn has a ring system 170,000 miles wide and about 30 feet thick, but in the galactic scheme of things the rings are very narrow and when Saturn reaches its equinox and the sun hits the giant gas planet straight on; the rings seem to disappear!
The next Saturn equinox will occur on August 11 but seeing the event from Earth, even with the best telescopes, will be next to impossible, but NASA has the Cassini spacecraft loaded with camera and a front row view of Saturn's spacial magic act.
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- News Source: io9 | 3 months agoLook to the skies tonight and you'll notice an important part of our solar system is missing. Tonight Saturn will shed its rings — or rather, the rings will hardly be reflecting any sunlight. According to Astronomy Now: Equinox is a twice-yearly...
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- News Source: Fox News | 3 months agoIn a celestial feat any magician would appreciate, Saturn will make its wide but thin ring system disappear from our view Aug. 11. Saturn's rings, loaded with ice and mud, boulders and tiny moons, is 170,000 miles wide...The rings harbor 35 trillion-...
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Cell phones use report code: Related Tweets
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@lcuthbert RT @astroengine: RT @Discovery_Space: Saturn Lightning Storm Breaks Records http://bit.ly/18eQwu
2 months ago -
@astroengine RT @Discovery_Space: Saturn Lightning Storm Breaks Records http://bit.ly/18eQwu
2 months ago -
@armenarmen the ring girls are getting put through their paces, one last practice circuit before the doors open for #UFC101 at the wachovia center.
3 months ago
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