Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has the most spectacular set of rings in the solar system. Saturn has been known since prehistoric times. Saturn is visibly flattened (oblate) when viewed through a small telescope; its equatorial and polar diameters vary by almost 10% (120,536 km vs. Saturn also exhibits long-lived ovals (red spot at center of image at right) and other features common on Jupiter. Saturn's rings remained unique in the known solar system until 1977 when very faint rings were discovered around Uranus (and shortly thereafter around Jupiter and Neptune). Saturn is the least dense of the planets; its specific gravity (0. Saturn is visibly flattened (oblate) when viewed through a small telescope; its equatorial and polar diameters vary by almost 10% (120,536 km vs.

Rings

Rings are 270,000 km in diameter, but only a few hundred meters thick. Early observations of Saturn were complicated by the fact that the Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings every few years as Saturn moves in its orbit. Saturn's rings are extraordinarily thin: though they're 250,000 km or more in diameter they're less than one kilometer thick. Two prominent rings (A and B) and one faint ring (C) can be seen from the Earth. The origin of the rings of Saturn (and the other jovian planets) is unknown. The current set of rings maybe only a few hundred million years old.

Satellites

The rings and the larger satellites are visible with a small astronomical telescope. There are satellites within the rings which result in the gaps that are present between some rings. Though they may have had rings since their formation, the ring systems are not stable and must be regenerated by ongoing processes, perhaps the breakup of larger satellites. Saturn has at least 35 naturally occurring satellites. All five, like the newly discovered four outer moons of Saturn, are irregular satellites.

Saturn's interior is hot (12000 K at the core) and Saturn radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Saturn's rings, unlike the rings of the other planets, are very bright (albedo 0. Saturn is the most oblate (flattened) planet in our Solar System. Saturn's outermost ring, the F-ring, is a complex structure made up of several smaller rings along which "knots" are visible. Saturn also exhibits long-lived ovals (red spot at center of image at right) and other features common on Jupiter. Saturn's bright rings are made of ice chunks (and some rocks) that range in size from the size of a fingernail to the size of a car. Saturn is visible without using a telescope, but a low-power telescope is needed to see its rings. Saturn is the only planet in our Solar System that is less dense than water. Saturn's auroral displays are caused by an energetic wind from the Sun that sweeps over the planet, much like Earth's aurora, which is occasionally seen in the nighttime sky.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Niel_Hudgens

Some weeks ago I came across a story in which it was mentioned that a noted scientist had classified SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) as a religion. There was also a rebuttal by a SETI astronomer to the effect that SETI was indeed a serious scientific endeavor. Neither argument was convincing.

I asked ancient astronaut expert Morten St. George about this. Is SETI a religion? He did not respond with a direct yes or no. He merely spoke of a psychological concept known as the collective unconscious. I understood this to be some type of mental archetype that lies deep and hidden in the minds of humankind, causing people to make mistakes on purpose. According to Morten, a specific archetype is at play here and it can be described as follows: God created man in his own image, therefore humankind is the only intelligent life form in the universe.

Morten said that the collective unconscious affects the SETI astronomers just like the rest of humankind. The SETI astronomers consciously want to make contact with extraterrestrials but unconsciously, or subconsciously, they do not want to. The result is that the collective unconscious has led the conscious efforts of the SETI astronomers to perpetual failure:

He gave me a few examples:

1. SETI astronomers have looked closely at nearby stars for extraterrestrial intelligence. Beyond all doubt it has become obvious that intelligent life does not evolve on every planet. Why in the world should we believe we will find it on a nearby planet? The chances of that are so remote it is not worth of drop of effort. Yet enormous time and effort have been lost searching nearby stars, time and effort that could have been much better spent looking in places more likely to be productive. A classic example of the collective unconscious causing failure for SETI.

2. SETI astronomers have undertaken blanket surveys of the entire sky. Why would any rational scientist want to waste limited resources searching aloof sections of the sky with low star density when those resources could be better spent searching areas with high star density and correspondingly higher chances of finding an alien communication? Or why not search areas of the galaxy where dark clouds might have protected an evolving civilization from deadly cosmic rays, making those areas a more likely place for a civilization to have had the time to achieve technology? Another classic example of the collective unconscious contributing to SETI failure.

3. SETI astronomers tend to ignore all ancient astronaut and ufology claims. Perhaps they want to considered as respectful scientists by the world community? The fact of the matter is that, on a galactic timescale, it does not take very long to explore the galaxy. The arguments for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence and equally the justification for SETI efforts imply that the galaxy is already fully explored. Even if there is enormous quackery in this area, every claim needs to be checked out. An alien visit at some point in the past is more likely than not, and it could provide clues on where to search. Wholly ignoring this area is still another example of the collective unconscious desiring failure.

4. SETI astronomers tend to assume that the extraterrestrials think like humans, employ human technology, and communicate at the wavelengths suggested by the collective unconscious. Logic dictates that if there is another technological civilization out there, it has to be far more advanced than us since humans have possessed technology not even for a split second on a galactic time scale. So why would an advanced civilization want to communicate at a frequency that has lots of galactic background noise rather than a frequency that has little or no static? Once again the collective unconscious leads to failure for SETI.

Sky-wide searches at ridiculous wavelengths will never produce results. Morten thinks the collective unconscious has incapacitated the SETI astronomers, leaving them wholly unable to ascertain genuinely good targets and then perform concentrated, multi-faceted, multi-bandwidth searches on those targets. Instead, they blindly turn their telescopes around and around, happily knowing that they will never pick up a signal. Thus, the argument that SETI is a religion is a strong one, and religion, not a lack of extraterrestrial intelligence, accounts for SETI's failure to date.

Morten has the following recommendations for SETI astronomers who find themselves able to break away from the impediments of the collective unconscious. Stop, think, and regroup. The objective is extraterrestrial intelligence and the only road to finding it is to make use of human intelligence. One must take the probabilities into account. The most likely scenario is as follows: at least one alien civilization is widely dispersed throughout the galaxy and that alien civilization a) possesses extremely advanced technology, b) knows that we are here, and c) is not sending us any messages.

What can SETI astronomers do in such circumstances? Recognize what they are up against and try to outsmart the aliens. Probe dark clouds along the galactic plane, search for energy trails deposited by their near speed-of-light spaceships, search for potential artificially-created energy sources and concentrate searches in those areas, read science fiction books for ideas on futuristic space communication technologies, try to detect and intercept communications that use those technologies. It is time to elevate the dignity of our species and demonstrate our ingenuity in a cat and mouse game.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gersiane_De_Brito

September Skies offer some good opportunities for deep sky observing, especially here in the dry season skies of the NT in northern Australia. Wait till the skies are clear and moonless and you can seek out the same delights of the night sky.

Globular Clusters -

Prominent in the early evening in the southern sky (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere), and at or close to the zenith if you are in the far southern hemisphere, is the Constellation Sagittarius (The Archer), better know as "The Teapot". Once you have picked it out in the night sky you will see the familiar teapot shape easily and certainly much easier than you will see an Archer ! This constellation and the adjacent constellations of of Ophiuchus (the serpent bearer) and Scorpius (the Scorpion) are rich in deep sky delights, especially globular clusters. The most prominent of these being the Messier Cataloged M4, M28, M22 and M55 just to name a few of the brighter ones.

What's A Messier Catalog? -

Well it goes like this: Well known Comet hunter Charles Messier of 18th Century France, needed to catalog objects that could be confused with comets in the small telescopes of the day. So he identified the brightest 100 or so objects in the night sky (from Paris) these became M1 to M110, with the last few being added by his colleagues after is passing. So the upshot for us in the 21st century is that we now have a simple list of Galaxies, Nebulas, Star Clusters and more, that are quite delightful when viewed thought Amateur Telescopes using optics that good old Charles could only dream of in the 1700's. For those of us in the southern Hemisphere the catalog has some very obvious gaps, with many delights of deep space seen from here being bigger and brighter than 3/4 of the objects in the Messier list ! (They will be the subject of a future article)

Beyond Globular Clusters -

Of course the delights of deep space to be seen here are not limited to Globular Clusters though, with the Lagoon Nebula (M8), the Trifid Nebula (M20), the Eagle Nebula (M16) and the Sagittarius star cloud (M24) are surely in the top 20 of all deep sky objects.

So how do you find & see these these amazing deep space delights?



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Maclean