IT'S SATURN SEASON

Right click on this and open in a new window and try to find the Earth!

The rings of Saturn are open for business.  As we head into May, the plane, its 170,000 mile-diameter ring system, and multitude of moons are back in prime-time for you to see this month.

You don’t need a telescope to find Saturn.  It shines like a steady, yellow “star” in the southeast near a blue star called Spica.  Here's how you find it:

First find the Big Dipper high in the northeastern sky.  Connect an arc through the handle stars of the Big Dipper and continue that arc to a really bright star called Arcturus ("Follow the Arc to Arcturus!").  Then keep going in a straighter line along the horizon and bingo you'll find Saturn and Spica ("Speed on to Saturn").

A Saturnian Storm

Now to see the rings, you’ll need to look through a good telescope.  Then you can witness the opening season of the solar system’s greatest wonder.  You can see the planet, the rings, the shadow of the rings, the gaps in the rings, the moons... Okay, I'm getting a little excited here, but this is the best planet ever.  When I first saw Saturn in a telescope it changed my life.  There it sat, a perfect cartoon-planet in a sea of blackness.  I knew then that I was destined to be an astronomer.  Check it out tonight!
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Venus and Jupiter Putting on a Show

We have had a great week of viewing for the planetary conjunction.  Venus and Jupiter have switched places and now Venus is the one higher in the sky as darkness falls.  This picture was taken on March 14 by a visitor to the Cincinnati Observatory, Bill Keel.  You can see the old Mitchel Telescope pointed through the dome with Venus on the right, Jupiter on the left (click on it for a bigger version).

For the rest of the month, the two planets will appear to spread out in the sky.  Jupiter will be the first to ride off into the sunset later in April.  But Venus will be blazing away in the western sky until mid-May.

After you've found Venus and Jupiter, turn 180 degrees.  In the opposite sky you'll find a pretty bright star that is decidedly "redder" than the others (hint hint).  That's the planet Mars.  And if you can stay up a little later, Saturn rises with a blue star next to it (called Spica) at about 11:30 in the southeast. So this weekend see if you can catch four planets in one night!
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More About Virgo

Spica

Spica is the real star of Virgo. Her rising marked to official beginning of Spring and the planting season. She has been called the "Queen Star of the Spring," and the "Star of Prosperity," but literally means "Ear of Wheat" which Virgo is holding in her left hand. The Egyptians built many temples to Spica's movement. At key times in the year, the light of Spica would penetrate deep shafts in these temples like in that Indiana Jones movie. The star is a brilliant blue-white in color and lies 260 light years away - or 1,508,000,000,000,000 miles! It is a binary star - meaning it is really two stars revolving around each other.

Vindemiatrix is the second brightest star lying north of Spica. Vindemiatrix means, "Grape Gatherer" because it rises in the morning before the time of the vintage. The star lies 100 light years away and is a yellow giant.

Near Vindemiatrix rest many galaxies. Look a little to the right of Vindemiatrix with a large telescope and see what you can find. One of the largest galaxies around is called M87 and is located in Virgo. The Hubble Telescope caught this picture of it with a jet of material streaming out. To many astronomers this indicated the presence of a super-massive black hole in the center of M87

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Virgo the Maiden

As Spring turns to Summer, the constellation Virgo reclines in the south after sunset. Virgo is lying on her back holding an ear of wheat in one hand and a dove of peace in the other. It's difficult to make out her silhouette in the sky - many of the stars are dim, and really don’t look much like a maiden. But her brightest star, Spica (pronounced SPY-ka), makes up for this obscurity. Spica is one of the most beautiful blue stars and easy to locate.

First find the Big Dipper in the northern sky. Trace down the arc of the handle and continue that curved line out in the sky. This should take you to a very bright, vaguely orange star called Arcturus. Now straighten out the line a little more and continue it until you hit Spica farther in the south. And there is Virgo. There is a catchy saying to remember all this. "Follow the arc to Arcturus then hit a spike to Spica." All right, it’s not that catchy...

The majority of the cultural myths - from Greece to India - describe Virgo as a maiden, virgin, or symbol of purity, innocence, and justice. The ancient Greeks likened her to the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of justice. She lays in the sky next to another zodiac sign, Libra the scales to mark her association with the scales of justice.

The ancient Egyptians thought Virgo represented the great goddess Isis. Isis had an ear of corn in her hand instead of wheat. Isis was the creator of the Milky Way, the band of fuzzy stars that form the heart of our galaxy, when she was up in the sky. One day, Isis was chased by a monster just as she was about to eat some corn. In the chase, she dropped the corn which scattered around the dome of heaven making the Milky Way - or should I say, "The Corny Way."

The Milky Way - Rightclick to open in new window

The Arabs initially included Virgo in a giant Lion constellation and some called it the Barking Dogs, but many groups seem to have changed it to conform with the Greek myths. Virgo is "Al Adhra al Nathifah," the Innocent Maiden.

And in India, the Hindus believe Virgo to be Kanya, the maiden and mother of the great Krishna.
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