Credit & Copyright: Imran Sultan
Explanation:
On Saturn, the rings tell you the season.
On Earth, today marks an equinox, the time when the
Earth's equator tilts directly toward the Sun.
Since
Saturn's grand rings
orbit along the planet's equator,
these rings appear most prominent --
from the direction of the Sun -- when the spin axis of
Saturn points toward the
Sun.
Conversely, when
Saturn's
spin axis points to the side, an equinox occurs,
and the edge-on rings are hard to see from not only the Sun -- but
Earth.
In the
featured montage, images of Saturn between the years of
2020 and 2025
have been superposed to show the giant planet passing,
with this year's equinox, from summer in the north to summer in the south.
Yesterday,
Saturn was coincidently about
as close as it gets to planet Earth,
and so this month the
ringed giant's orb is relatively bright and
visible
throughout the night.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
equinox - Saturn - Saturn - Ravnodenstvie
Publikacii so slovami: equinox - Saturn - Saturn - Ravnodenstvie | |
Sm. takzhe:
Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >> | |
