I remember, and I don’t believe I’ll ever forget it, my first time seeing Saturn through a telescope. There was a small light in the sky, and I wasn’t sure what it was but I thought I’d point my telescope at it, maybe it was Saturn. I looked at the light, and at first I thought I was looking at a star, but that there were weird patches of light around the star. So I thought, I need to adjust the telescope. But then, when I realized what I was looking at, I was filled with such joy and wonder, that I cursed loudly. Those patches of light were the rings of Saturn. I was looking at one of the most beautiful objects in our solar system.
17th June 2017, My First Sketch Of Saturn
This is my first sketch of Saturn, and for some reason, and I don’t know why, my sketches of Saturn keep getting worse. I don’t know why this is. It’s like the more detail I see the more my brain becomes overwhelmed. The moon is the astronomical object where there is the most detail, and I can’t sketch it to save my life.
June 18th, only a day later and I’m already seeing the Cassini Division
I’ve talked before about how astronomy sketching trains your eye to see even more, and this is evident in this sketch, only my second sketch of Saturn, where you can see the Cassini Division. The Cassini Division is a gap in Saturn’s rings caused by the pull of Saturn’s moon Mimas.
July 13th 2017 Seriously, what? This is only my fourth astronomy sketch and already I’ve come down with a case of the can’t draw Saturn syndrome. Look how warped that ring is, I mean, what?
24TH June 2018. Titan in view, my first time seeing one of the bestest
moons.
So, what’s that spot on the far left of the picture? Well I already told you in the caption for this picture, it’s Saturn’s moon Titan. And while Titan appears in my telescope as a tiny light, with no real detail, I still love to see it because it’s one of the most interesting objects in our solar system. It’s got lakes and rivers, and it rains there. So a bit like Earth maybe? In comparison to some of the other moons and planets out there, yeah, maybe somewhat similar to Earth, but the key difference is Titan doesn’t have a water cycle, it’s got a methane cycle, because it’s so cold there that methane exists in a liquid state there. This would be one of my favourite places to visit in our solar system if possible. It’s also got such low gravity, and such a thick atmosphere, that it might be possible to strap on wings and fly like a bird there. Why does Saturn get all the best moons?
Titan also holds the distinction of being the only object in the outer solar system that humans have landed something on. The Cassini probe entered orbit around Saturn in 2004, and in 2005, Cassini launched its precious cargo towards Titan, the Huygens probe. The Huygens probe landed on Titan and showed us pictures of the Titanian landscape.
9th August 2020 Saturn and Rhea and Titan. My second time seeing Rhea, but to be honest seeing Rhea is a let down after seeing Titan. It’s like Titan is the blockbuster and Rhea is the direct to DVD sequel
So this sketch is my second time seeing Rhea, but Rhea just isn’t as interesting as Titan. It’s a fairly generic moon by Saturnian standards. Remember, Saturn has some of the best moons, some really top tier moons, and, maybe I’m going to be crucified for saying this, but Saturn’s moons are even better than Jupiter’s moons. There I said it!
19th December 2020. Jupiter and Saturn
The more observant among you will note that this is the second time I have displayed this sketch on my blog. However, I’m humble enough to not expect everyone to have read all my blogposts. So what seems like an oversight on my part is actually an indicator of the extreme level of my virtuousness. If you’re interested in reading about this sketch I cover it here:
17th July 2021. Seeing Iapetus for the first time. Saturn has the best rings and with Titan and Iapetus has two of the best moons. Some planets have all the luck don’t they!
Saturn could easily be called “The Lucky Planet”. However, it is not called this, because for Saturn to be lucky, it would have to be a sentient lifeform, which clearly it is not. Not only does it have really, seriously kick ass rings (Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have rings also, but they’re just not as cool), but not only does it have Titan, but it’s also got Iapetus, one of the best moons in the solar system. But how can I judge it to be one of the best moons, by what criteria? Simple, it’s my blog.
There are some cool things to see on Iapetus. It’s got an equatorial ridge that is 8 miles high, that for all the world reminds me of Sheep’s Head Peninsula. And if you’re interested I’ve got a blogpost about a trip I took to that most Iapetusian looking part of West Cork:
One of the interesting things about Iapetus is that if your telescope is not sufficiently powerful, you will be able to observe Iapetus only on the Western side of Saturn, but not on the Eastern side. This is because one side of Iapetus is extremely bright, and the other extremely dark. And Iapetus also has the distinction of having one of the best views of Saturn’s rings. On the other Saturnian moons, the rings appear as a thin, faint line, but from Iapetus it would be quite possible to see the rings in all their glory. This is due to Iapetus’s highly unusual orbit, no one is sure how it got this unusual orbit, but there are theories that it was caused by encounters with other planets in the early solar system:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.3600
22nd November 2022. My most recent sketch of Saturn, and it’s got wonky rings again. If Saturn gets destroyed in the future but my astronomy sketches survive, future generations will think this is what Saturn looked like.
And finally, my most recent sketch of Saturn. If I keep screwing up my Saturnian astronomy sketches I’m going to think that’s what Saturn actually looks like. When I picture it in my mind, I will see those seriously wonky rings, and when I see a NASA photo of Saturn, I will think, “That must be an exo planet, Saturn’s rings are much more crooked than that.”
So I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blogpost on Saturn, the second best planet. Earth will always be number one, because Saturn lacks both guitars and cups of tea, but Saturn will always be a close second. And I can honestly say seeing those rings with my own telescope has been one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced.
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