Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 3495, 1 March 1921, Page 44

THE PLANET SATURN. The planet. Saturn is a very interesting object in the telescope at present. This planet revolves round the sun in about 29g years, so that twice in that period, about every 15 years, the ring plane of Saturn appears edge on to the earth. At about this time the plane of the rings passes through the sun, so that tho sun is then shining on the edge of the rings, and they are not visible. About February 22 the earth crosses the plane of Saturn's rings from the north to the south, and the sun was then also slightly to the south of the plane of the rings. On April 9 the sun crosses the plane of the rings from the south to the north, and between these dates the rings are visible. Excellent views were obtained of (Saturn at the Kelburn Observatory, Wellington, last Wednesday and Thursday evenings, the lings being faintly visible on Wednesday, and distinctly more so on Thursday. The view of the planet was somewhat interfered with on Wednesday and Thursday owing to the proximity of the bright moon, but on Tuesday next the moon will be right out of the wav.