UAE night sky to shine as Saturn reaches peak brightness
As Crab Nebula draws near Saturn will sparkle through the UAE evening sky as a brighter body of the Solar System.
September 8 will provide a once-in-a-lifetime view of Saturn as it will come the closest to Earth. It will be observing generally streaky after the opposition as the sunlight, which strikes the earth, which is on the opposite side of the Saturn and is reflected back by the ringed planet under opposition, falls on its entire disk. This means that a larger portion than the usual part of the sky will have Saturn compared to normal opposition.
Khatijah Ahmad, operations manager at the Dubai Astronomy Group (DAG), stated that “The rings will be well-defined on the planet and some of the brightest moons may also be seen. More than 146 natural satellites have orbits around Saturn. In most cases, the better and brighter ones are observable with binoculars or telescopes; these include Titan, Rhea, Dione, Enceladus and others.”
Saturn’s opposition happens when it is on the sides of the Sun with respect to the Earth, placing Earth and Saturn directly in line with each other relative to the Sun.
“In addition to making Saturn appear bigger and brighter in the night sky, this positional relationship provides a perfect occasion to view Saturn more closely and appreciate its glorious rings and moons even more,” the DAG said.
The opposition will see Saturn come to within a single point which is approximately 1.2 billion kilometers from Earth. “Such an event occurs approximately once in every 378 days hence reason is sufficient in terms of astronomers as well as people.”
How to Catch It
The astronomical event is too visible to be missed, however detailed studies of the waste which includes the rings and moons can only be achieved through use of a telescope.
“To avoid any deception, the planet is set to rise at sunset in the same way as the sun. Midnight is the only time when the most prominent features of the planet are likely to be seen. It will not go unnoticed all night, until morning when the sun hibernates,” Khadijah said. “Saturn will be up in the sky very visible weeks after opposition but will however be parading at its prime on September 8.”
The DAG invites everyone to a paid event in the desert of Al Lisaili in Dubai where guests will enjoy a telescopic view of Saturn rings.
Three notable celestial characteristics captured in the eye all at once last month: there rose a “blue” supermoon on August 19; there occurred a dramatic close up of mars and jupiter on august 15; and surged around the sight hundreds of the stars these pertain to shooting on record there prevailed this month August the 12 th of the year of 2016 which is noted as the peak of the meteor shower of the Perseids.
In the forecast, the supermoons will occur on September 18, another supermoon will happen on October 17 and another on November 15. A supermoon refers to the full Moon at perigee, i.e. the point at which the moon is closest to earth.
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