Saturn Opposition 2005

Post by **weixing** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 11:32 am

Hi,
Saturn is at opposition on 13th January 2005 23:00 UT. Hope the weather will be good on the night of 13th or 14th Jan 2005.

Have a nice day.

Dark Prince · Post by **Dark Prince** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:48 pm

um...what do you mean by opposition?

Post by **weixing** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:50 pm

Hi,
Basically, when a planet (or whatever object in space) is in opposition, it is in opposite position to the Sun (seen from the Earth). This is also the best time to observe a planet, because it is visible almost all night and it makes its closest approach to the Earth during this time, so it appears biggest and brightest. Example: A full moon occurs when the moon is in opposition.

Have a nice day.

Dark Prince · Post by **Dark Prince** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:17 pm

Oh ok. Thanks a lot.

But another question. Why does the planet (or any object in space for that matter) approach closest to the Earth during an opposition?

Thanks for replying. See you (all) Sat, hopefully.

carlogambino · Post by **carlogambino** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:24 am

This can be answered by a simple analogy. Draw two concentric circles. The shortest line possibly drawn is a line drawn perpendicularly to the tangents of these two circles.(i.e opposition)

Post by **weixing** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:19 am

Hi,
See the below diagram. S is the sun, E is earth and Ex is any exterior planet/moon, such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and etc. Also, please note that only exterior planet will have opposition... interior planet won't have opposition.

Hope it help.

Have a nice day.

Dark Prince · Post by **Dark Prince** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:53 pm

OH YES! Feel so embarrassed now. Silly me...was visualizing it wrongly. Kept forgetting that we are orbiting around the Sun eventhough from Earth, it seems as if everything is orbiting around us. Thought was some gravity pull of the Sun or something. Oopz and Thanks again for the enlightenment.

Post by **weixing** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:04 am

Hi,
Did anyone observe Saturn yesterday?? Did anyone see the three moons of saturn forming a striaght line?? Below is a image I took yesterday with an over expose saturn... the below "ghost saturn" is cause by internal reflection of the lens/eyepiece.

After checking with my star chart software, below is the name of the moon:
1) Left to right: Rhea, Dione and Tethys
2) Top: Titan

Have a nice day.

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:32 pm

observed from 12 to 3am this morning from my multistorey carpark, what a clear sky!
played with goto on my cg5, it was nice, can find objects within the fov of 26mm plossl ep on my c8, but missed the days when i can use my bare hands to move the scope myself :-) maybe an alt-az with dsc is better for me.

kohjb · Post by **kohjb** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:15 pm

I was observing from about 9pm to 12am. It was GREAT !! So clear. Really deprived of the clear skies for too long. Saw the 3 evenly spaced and aligned moons of Saturn too. Also was my first time I've seen a comet - Machholz. Didn't know what to look for at first, so had to star hop down from the Pleiades !! Oh well, now I know what to look for. I guess I was expecting a comet tail and all. Can you see that with binos ? Anyway, if it's clear again tonight, will try to capture some images for the first time.