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The Eerie Sounds of Saturn

Saturn is one of the most spectacular objects of the night sky. The beauty of this famous ringed planet is a sight to behold through a telescope! But did you know that Saturn also is the source of some very eerie ‘sounds’? Here’s a YouTube video (Credit: SpaceRip) that features an audio rendering of Saturn’s strange symphony of radio waves:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh2-P8hG5-E]

The Northern Lights. Image Credit: Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo

Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which have been monitored by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth’s northern and southern lights. Earth’s auroras occur when charged solar particles impact the Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing atomic particles in the atmosphere to give off radiation of various wavelengths, including visual light (usually green or red colors) and radio waves. All of this occurs as the charged particles travel down, or along, Earth’s magnetic field lines near the north and south poles.

Earth auroras — Auroras occur at both the north and south poles of Earth. The "Aurora Borealis" occurs at the north pole, and the "Aurora Australis" occurs at the south pole. Image Credit: NASA

The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions from Saturn in April 2002, when Cassini was 374 million kilometers (234 million miles) from the planet, using the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument. The radio and plasma wave instrument has provided high resolution observations of these emissions, showing an amazing array of variations in frequency and time. The complex radio spectrum with rising and falling tones is very similar to Earth’s auroral radio emissions. These observations indicate that there are numerous small radio sources moving along magnetic field lines threading the auroral region of Saturn.

See the planet Saturn

Saturn is in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo this month, near the bright binary star Porrima. The word “planet” comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “wanderer,” because the planets move in relation to the background stars. Over the course of this month, watch Saturn as it gradually moves away from Porrima, toward the bright star “Spica” in Virgo.

Saturn and Porrima in Virgo — Saturn and the bright, binary star Porrima appear close to one another in Virgo in early July. But Saturn will begin to move away from Virgo, toward Spica, as the month progresses.

Saturn’s rings appear more and more impressive as we move through the remainder of this year. The tilt of Saturn’s rings relative to us Earthlings reached its minimum value for 2011 in June. The tilt of the rings is growing now, making for a more impressive sight. In fact, the tilt will more than double by the end of 2011.

If you view Saturn through even a small telescope you should see Saturn’s giant moon Titan, which is an 8th magnitude object. Titan is the 2nd largest moon in the solar system (Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest.) This giant moon is composed of water ice and rocky material, has a largely nitrogen atmosphere, and has lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. Depending on your telescope, you may also see the Saturnian moons Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus.

This month, Saturn appears toward the northern horizon shortly after sunset for Southern Hemisphere observers, and sets a few hours later. Saturn appears toward the south-southwest sky for Nouthern Hemisphere observers. Saturn will be visible in the evening skies for the next couple of months. Then, toward the end of the year, Saturn will reappear as a morning object (rising in the east shortly before sunrise).

The Other Planets in the Night Sky This Month

Jupiter appears in the predawn, eastern sky: It will be the brightest astronomical object you see toward the eastern horizon (other than the moon and the sun!). Currently, it resides in the Name A Star Live constellation Aries.

Mars rises shortly before sunrise over the eastern horizon. Mars is currently in the Name A Star Live constellation Taurus.

The elusive planet Mercury may just be visible from your neck of the woods this month. Look for it right after sunset, low on the western horizon. If your local weather cooperates, try looking for Mercury on July 3. You should find the planet roughly between the point where the sun set and the very thin crescent Moon you’ll see toward the west.

When to go stargazing this month

Moonlight ‘drowns out’ the faint light of many stars and other celestial objects, so the best time to view the stars is when the Moon is not visible. If you’re going to stargaze between sunset and midnight, then the best time to do that in July would be during the first few days, and during the last week of the month.

Finding your star in the night sky

Stars are located within constellations, which are just areas of the night sky. Scorpius, Aries and Taurus are examples of constellations. Your Name A Star Live Star Certificate displays the name of your constellation.

You can use our online World Constellation Guide to determine if you can see your constellation during the evening hours (between sunset and midnight). Of course, you’ll need a telescope to see your star. (That’s why we include the SLOOH online telescope experience in our Deluxe, Framed and Ultimate Gift Sets!) But you can see your constellation without the use of a telescope.

You can also find your constellation by using our Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software. A planisphere is another useful device.

See the Planet Uranus

This month take a look at the planet Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun. You can find Uranus by first finding the bright planet Jupiter, which you’ll see almost due south around 9:00 pm local time. (For those of you in the southern hemisphere of Earth — such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa — Jupiter will appear almost due north around 9:00 pm this month.) Through a pair of binoculars or a telescope, Uranus will appear as a pale green dot, up and to the left of Jupiter (down and to the right of Jupiter, if you’re in the southern hemisphere). Try observing when the Moon is not up as moonlight can drown out Uranus’ faint light. If you have particularly good eyesight and are far from city lights, you might even see Uranus with your naked eye on a clear, moonless night.

With a surface area approximately 16 times that of Earth, Uranus is a really large planet, not as big as mighty Jupiter, but large nevertheless! It’s also the coldest planet in the solar system: Unlike the other planets, Uranus has a cool planetary core. Uranus is the 2nd ‘lightest’ planet in the solar system: It’s composed primarily of hydrogen, helium and methane. This means that even though Uranus is much larger than Earth, if you could somehow stand on the surface of Uranus, the amount of gravity you would experience there would be only 89% of Earth’s gravity. For example, a 100 pound child on Earth would weigh only 89 pounds on Uranus.

Uranus was discovered in 1781 by the German-born British astronomer (and musician) Sir William Herschel. Herschel named the planet “George’s Star” after Britain’s King George III. The grateful king awarded Herschel a stipend. But astronomers soon referred to the planet as “Uranus,” naming this green giant after the classical god of the sky, Uranus, who was the father of Saturn, and the grandfather of Jupiter, the king of the gods in classical mythology.

Seeing planets this month

The mighty planet Jupiter again dominates the night sky this month. Jupiter is the bright point of light you’ll see toward the south after sunset (towards the north, if you’re in the southern hemisphere of Earth): It’s easy to spot.

Venus and Saturn will be in the Name A Star Live constellation Virgo in November. Both planets are low on the eastern horizon around sunrise in mid-November. Look for the two planets about an hour before sunrise: Saturn will be above the planet Venus.

Saturn and Venus in the predawn sky, mid-November 2010

Mars is on the other side of the Sun now, so we cannot see the Red Planet this month.

Finding your star in the night sky

You can also find your constellation by using our Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software. A planisphere is another useful device.

Get a rare look at Mercury — Venus too!

April 2010 is a particularly good time to see the planet Mercury. Mercury is the innermost planet to the sun, and is thus difficult to observe. But you can get a good look at Mercury in early April this year, especially if you live in the northern hemisphere of Earth.

Look toward the west at sunset (being careful not to look at the sun!). You should see two bright points of light above the western horizon. The object on top is the planet Venus, and the object beneath that is the planet Mercury. Both planets are in the constellation Aries, which is a Name A Star Live constellation. So if you have a star in Aries, then if you find Venus and Mercury, you know your star is nearby!

Venus and Jupiter at Sunset — Venus and Jupiter shortly after sunset, June 2002. Credit: NASA

Mercury and Venus will appear closest together on the evenings of April 3 and 4. Again, the best views will be from the northern hemisphere of Earth. If you live in the southern hemisphere, then the two planets will appear so close to the western horizon at sunset that you may not get a good view. (Again, don’t look at the sun!)

If you observe the two planets through a telescope. you’ll notice that Venus looks like a bright, almost-full circle, while Mercury looks like a semi-circle — or even a crescent shape. This is because Mercury is so very close to the sun that we never really see the full face of the planet.

Don’t wait! Your best views of Venus and Mercury will be in the first week to 10 days of April.

See the planet Mars!

A heart-shaped surface feature on Mars. — From Mars, With Love. This heart-shaped pit on the surface of Mars was photographed by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor.

Pull out your telescope and look to the skies above, for this is a good time to see the planet Mars as the famous “Red Planet” is near what’s called “opposition.” This means that Mars and Earth are close to one another in their orbits around the Sun. (See diagram below.)

Name A Star Live diagram of Mars at opposition — At opposition Mars and Earth are at their closest approach to one another in their orbits around the Sun. (Note that this diagram is not to scale.)

It’s called “opposition” because, when viewed from Earth, Mars and the Sun appear at opposite sides of the sky at sunset: on the day of opposition, Mars rises over the eastern horizon just as the sun sets over the western horizon. While the Mars opposition was January 29, 2010, you can get good views of Mars throughout February.

If the star you have named is in the constellation Cancer then you’re in luck, for Mars is in the constellation Cancer as well for the next few months: If you find Mars, then you’ve found the constellation Cancer! Mars appears as a rather bright, reddish-orange object in the eastern sky during the first few hours after sunset this month.

If you have any trouble finding the planet, just use your Virtual Planetarium™ astronomy software, which is included in our Deluxe, Framed and Ultimate Gift Sets. Also, you can view Mars through the SLOOH online telescope — Name A Star Live is the only name-a-star company to offer SLOOH.

Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity to view the Red Planet as Mars oppositions occur only about once every 26 months.