Montauk Pioneer - April 17, 2009

Last month at the Library, the Montauk Observatory brought back my two favorite Astronomy Professors from Suffolk County Community College (SCCC): Dr. Mike Inglis and Sean Tvelia. They did a fascinating lecture on the planet Saturn entitled "Saturn: Lord Of The Rings" and it was presented by Dr. Inglis in a language that most could understand.

Dr. Mike Inglis, an Ambassador of NASA Solar System and writer of books such as Astrophysics Is Easy! showed the wannabe astronomers, literally "out of this world" pictures taken in 2004, by the Cassini spacecraft launched on October 5, 1997. The spacecraft, named after French astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini took a series of 126 natural color photographs that were beamed back to earth and later stitched together producing a montage of pictures of the planet in detail. To this day, the satellite is still in orbit hoping to find more info on the planet.

I saw Saturn personally for the first time when the Observatory held its first Star Gazing Party at the Theodore Roosevelt County Park two years ago April 20, 2007. I remember I felt great anticipation, when Professors Inglis and Tvelia took out the recently purchased (Nov 2006) 20" Meade RCX400 telescope from the shed. The stargazers "oohhed" and "ahhed" to the sights of galaxies never before seen. I remember when Professor Inglis put his camera against the lens of the telescope to take pictures of Saturn for the very first time. I had no idea how such a small camera with the help of a telescope could capture awesome pictures of Saturn and its rings.

Professor Inglis gave the attendees several facts about Saturn. It is the furthest one can see with the naked eye, about 1.4 billion kilometers, or less than a billion miles away. It is a planet made up of hydrogen, helium and other gases wrapping a core of rock and ice. It is ten times larger than our Earth and the second largest planet besides Jupiter. It revolves on its axis in 10 to 11 hours and around the sun every 29.5 Earth years. Its clouds look serene but have a thousand-mile-an-hour winds. Needless to say, one cannot land on the planet.

Saturn was named after a Roman God and is famous for its beautiful rings. Other planets like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings but Saturn is the most spectacular of them. From edge to edge the main rings span some 165,000 miles and the thickness averages about 150 feet. They are made up of billions of ice particles from the size of a marble to as large as a bus. There are thousands of rings alphabetically in the order of their discovery that surround Saturn.

Between the ring gaps, there is a moon that keeps them in place of their rotation through gravity. Professor Inglis stated that there are over 65 moons around Saturn that are made mostly of ice formed about 4.5 billions years ago. Many moons can now be seen because the Cassini spacecraft camera enhances their colors. Moons such as Mimas, Phoebe, Iapetus, Diono, Tethys, and Hyperion, were discussed in detail with accompanying pictures. Each picture showed their own characteristics of cliffs, craters, mountains and valleys. Moons like Titan, the second biggest moon in the solar system, and Enceladus, show the same ingredients that make life on earth possible because of internal heat, water and a source of energy. A question, which constantly comes up, "Is there life in the universe?" is always an intriguing one.

After the lecture, the group was invited to a star gazing party at the County Park. For the first time in months, the sky was clear. Through a couple of other smaller telescopes, the group was able to look at Saturn and its rings. It was a good start for the year and hopefully there will be many more clear nights to come. The Montauk Observatory is a non-profit organization established with private funding to construct, maintain, and operate a research-grade astronomical observatory on the East End of Long Island. Its mission is to foster public interest in science by providing a fully operational remote access observatory that will allow professional and amateur astronomers across Long Island to access the dark skies of Montauk for both research and educational needs. Funds are still needed for the proposed Observatory Building and any donation including your time and talent is much appreciated. Check their web site: www.montaukobservatory.com to join for free and to be added on to their mailing list for future stargazing events.