by If you have a telescope, you might want to consider setting your alarm for Friday (May 31) for about 4 a.m. local daylight time (3 a.m. if you live in Hawaii, Arizona, or Puerto Rico is observing daylight time). At that time, if you go outside and look towards the southeast, you will probably see the two most common celestial objects to observe through a telescope: the moon and the planet Saturn.
The moon will be just over half a day old as it officially reaches its final quarter, or half-day.moon phase. Some may question why we call the moon a “quarter moon” at this particular stage, as what we see in the sky is clearly a half-illuminated moon. But the “quarter” does not refer to what we see in the sky, but that the moon is beginning its last quarter in its 29.53 day cycle, called a synodic month.
The word synodic is derived from the ancient Greek word “sunodos,” which became the English word “synod,” meaning “meeting” by the mid-1600s; because of New moon phase, the moon “hits” the sun. Thus, a synodic month begins at the new moon, and the moon is entering the last quarter of that month at its last quarter.
Related: What is the phase of the moon today? Moon phases 2024
Saturn above the moon
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And hovering about 1.2 degrees above the moon on Friday morning is the “Lord of the Rings,” the planet Saturn. To the eye it appears as a bright yellow-white “star,” currently shining at size 1.2, about as bright as the star Fomalhaut, which will be this morning, located about 23 degrees to the lower right of the moon and Saturn.
Your fists are clenched at arm’s length about 10 degrees wide. Therefore, Fomalhaut will be located a little more than “two fists” from this moon / planet pair and will also have a similar color (yellow-white). The visual difference between Saturn and Fomalhaut is that Procyon appears to be floating while Saturn glows with a steady, calm glow.
Over the years, people have told me that they have a telescope but have never seen Saturn through it. The reason? Most beginners i astronomy difficulty identifying it positively. In fact, on the surface there is nothing really outstanding about Saturn. Venus and Jupiter can be recognized by their great brilliance and Mars A characteristic fiery orange color appears. Saturn is indeed bright, but it does not seem to “stand out” against the background of stars. What you really want to have is some sort of benchmark to know positively where it is.
That Friday morning benchmark is the moon.
Bonus for South America
Incidentally, if you’re reading this from the southern third of South America, anywhere below a line that runs roughly from Santiago, Chile to Florianopolis, Brazil, you’ll be able to look at the moon pass directly in front of Saturn – occultism — with Saturn passing behind the bright side of the moon and reappearing about 20 to 30 minutes later behind the dark, unlit side. Interesting scene!
Rings almost edge
A telescope trained on Saturn will reveal that it is always a spectacular sight, even though its famous rings are now almost in the direction of ours. World. They are currently tilted just 2.2 degrees from the edge and will appear to close a bit more during June. Then, as we move into summer and fall, as both our planet and Saturn move in their respective orbits around the sunThe angular attitude of the rings will change and they will appear noticeably “open” a little, so by the beginning of December they will be tilted more than 5 degrees towards us.
If you have a 4-inch telescope, your best view will be using 100-power. With an 8-inch telescope, 200-power will give you a great view, and with a 12-inch telescope at 300 power, it’s a poor view. Even veterans like myself, who have seen Saturn numerous times over the years, never get tired of watching it.
Moon also puts on a show
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And don’t forget to check out the moon too! Most might say that the best time to look at our nearest neighbor is when it is in full phase, but that is probably the worst time to look at it! When the moon is full it tends to be too bright as well as flat and one dimensional in appearance. In contrast, around the interval of several days when the moon is about the first phase or the last quarter is when we get the best views of the lunar landscape right along the line of sunrise or Terminator of sunrise.
If you go out with your telescope in the early hours of Friday morning, I bet you’ll be so intrigued by what you see that you’ll stay out almost until sunrise. And incidentally, we are now only about a week away from the time of the earliest sunrise from the Northern Hemisphere.
What a great way to start Friday!
