Saturn. Early March, 2008.

Extraterrestrial storms are not uncommon.  And it isn’t uncommon for these storms to last a long time.  According to the post, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, featured as the picture of the day on July 18, 1999 (which was a picture from Voyager 1 taken circa 1979), has been studied for at least 150 years and has been observed from Earth for over 300!

Another point of interest, about the electrical storm on Saturn, is that the “… storm has roughly the width of planet Earth.”.  I’m interested to see how long this storm lasts.  Aren’t you?

“That’s no moon.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope.   But wait, yes it is.  If you look closely at the image of Saturn’s electrical storm, which has been color shifted to better allow us humans to see some of the spectrum that we couldn’t otherwise, you will see Saturn’s rings.  Just below the rings you will see a faint “dot”, which to the untrained (read: mine) eye, appears to bit a fleck of dust on the lens.  This is Saturn’s small moon Janus.

Side note: We had an excellent view of Saturn when we attended Public Night at the Astronomical Observatory. But it wasn’t anywhere near as good as this shot and we certainly didn’t see the electrical storm.

Source: NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day: A Persistent Electrical Storm on Saturn.

But wait, there’s a lot more…

After writing this morning, I’ve since read another article on NASA.gov about Cassini tracking the “raging storm” on Saturn.  There are quite a few tidbits of interest.

1. “The new storm is located in Saturn’s southern hemisphere–in a region nicknamed “Storm Alley” by mission scientists–where the previous lightning storms were observed by Cassini.”
2. “Amateur astronomers have kept track of the storm over its five-month lifetime. “Since Cassini’s camera cannot track the storm every day, the amateur data are invaluable,” said Fischer. “I am in continuous contact with astronomers from around the world.”"
3. “Cassini’s radio plasma wave instrument detects the storm every time it rotates into view, which happens every 10 hours and 40 minutes, the approximate length of a Saturn day. Every few seconds the storm gives off a radio pulse lasting for about a tenth of a second, which is typical of lightning bolts and other electrical discharges. These radio waves are detected even when the storm is over the horizon as viewed from Cassini, a result of the bending of radio waves by the planet’s atmosphere. ”

The radio waves they are referring to are actually recorded by Cassini.  You can listen to, and look at the statistical data for, that audio here.  The audio is only 28 seconds long but represents two hours of audio on Saturn.

Last night Keystone College’s Thomas G. Cupillari Astronomical Observatory was open to the public, and so Eliza, Chris, Andrew, and I took the short ride out to take advantage of the exceptionally clear skies. I could not be happier with my decision to go. We had a great time learning about, and gazing at, our solar system’s planets, stars much larger than our own sun, and distant galaxies.

Every Wednesday and Friday from March 12th until May 30th, of this year, the observatory is open to public lectures and viewing sessions. While we were there we were given a ~30-minute lecture about the viewable sky in our hemisphere, the constellations, and some of the quirkiness of star gazing. The lecture was jammed packed with information and I look forward to one day listening to it again, just so I get it all.  After the lecture you are free to use, under the careful observation and help from the staff and volunteers there, the telescopes that the Observatory has in place.  We primarily used four main telescopes while we were there.

The planet Mercury at sunset (just left of center).

Before the lecture, and before we even peered through any telescope, we were able to get a clear glimpse of Mercury, the planet closest to our Sun and only visible during the morning and evening.  An object so clearly visible, yet often overlooked as probably being the first star you can see as the sun sets, yet is actually an entire planet.

After the lecuture, the first telescope we used in the circle-shaped building with a rotating roof, is a telescope built by the firm of Alvan Clark & Sons of Cambridgeport, MA in the late 19th Century.  In 1971 Thomas G. Cupillari bought the telescope from an ex-host of the Today Show on NBC, Dave Garroway, and with a contribution of $5,000 from the Scranton Area Foundation – built the building in which it now sits and is operated.  Focused on Mercury we were able to get a much better look of the atmosphere’s affects on how we see objects in the sky.  Mercury appeared to be a giant rainbow, really a neat looking site.  With a rather swift movement, the gentleman maneuvering the telescope for us, pointed the telescope nearly straight up in the sky.  After adjusting the rotating roof into position, making slight adjustments to the telescope through the finder, he said “Ok, this next thing is a fake.”.  I was the first to look through eyepiece when I saw Saturn, complete with its many rings, being displayed as vividly as a photograph in a science book.  With black space and only a few stars surrounding it, it really did look fake.  I was amazed.

The second telescope we used to focus in on Betelgeuse and Mars.  The woman handling this telescope, who also gave the lecture, put me to the task of finding some of these objects.  The telescope were were using was “thrown together” by one of the volunteers using a few old parts of a Meade telescope he had.  I am not sure which parts were original, which parts were modified, but the telescope performed wonderfully.  The view finder (not sure of the technical term) was equipped with an infrared bulls-eye.  Lining it up to an object in the sky could not have been easier.  Mars shown like a jewel in the sky.  It looked like a woman’s ring; diamonds surrounding sapphire.  I can’t describe it any other way.  Saturn appeared much more far away but still just as crisp.

The third and fourth telescopes were in a building with a fully retractable roof.  The one we used most was, I think, a Meade LX200 on some sort of custom fixed mount (here is a photo of its lens).  It was operated by remote control and held hundreds of thousands of astronomical objects in its database.  Type in a number, hit enter, and the thing lined itself right up with what you wanted to see.  Using this telescope we focused on entire galaxies, appearing like nothing more than dust in space, which contain billions of stars.  We were also able to see a planetary nebula (described as such because of the relative shape of the nebula, not because the nebula produces planets rather than stars) which had a bright center and a fuzzy aura.

Me

Eliza

Chris

Andrew

Looking through the Meade LX200 at Mercury.

The fourth telescope was fixed towards the southern sky and, using it, we were able to see a few stars that were “nearing the end of their lives”.  The star was bright red, like a distant break light, and was clearly distinguishable from its neighbors (yet you’d never see it with the naked eye).  We used this telescope the least of all.

Left: The main telescope building. Right: Same building from the rear at sunset.

Being clothed in only sweatshirts as the temperature dipped into the low 30s, we had to leave before the sky truly got pitch-black, but I’m looking forward to a return visit in less than two weeks, were we’re encouraged to bring our own telescopes (I have one that I want to learn how to use better).  I can’t tell you how anxious I am to get back out there, prepared with tools and proper clothing, to be up all night and gaze at the stars once again.