The not so perfectly smooth rings of Saturn
I have always been impressed by how smooth the rings of Saturn look like. But the rings are actually made up of small chunks of ice, and sharp-eyed users at the Unmanned Spaceflight.com forum noticed that thousands of small boulders and moonlets were casting shadows on the ring, reminding us that the ring is not just one huge solid thing. It helps that the Sun is now lower on the horizon from the viewpoint of the rings, which means that longer shadows are cast.
Shadows cast on the rings of Saturn
It probably sounds strange but a year or so in the past, when Saturn was in close approach to the earth, I had the opportunity to see it through a small telescope. The image was very small and bleached out but the rings were unmistakable. I have seen beautiful photos of Saturn lavish with detail but to actually see it through the telescope was a far more powerful experience. I will never forget the awe that little fuzzy image produced. Strange.
Not strange at all, although I do wonder what one would feel with Saturn's rings being head-on this year ...
Just for you! :-)
Saturn's 'Titan' - A near mirror image of earth before life evolved!
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/04/is-s...
Thanks for the link!
What is the yearly cycle for the inclination of Saturn's rings with respect to an earthly viewpoint?
It's about 13 years, IIRC. (I might be wrong, but at least I won't be wrong by an order of magnitude.)