From the January 2009 issue

Glenn Chaple’s Observing Basics: Feast on Saturn

March 2009: Use 2009's edge-on appearance to observe the planet's other features and its moons.
By | Published: January 26, 2009 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

Glenn Chaple

Galileo was baffled. In July 1610, having already discovered moons in orbit around Jupiter, the Italian astronomer directed his telescope toward the planet Saturn. He probably wasn’t surprised to see two new “stars” bracketing Saturn’s disk. After all, four accompanied Jupiter! But that quartet performed a night-to-night dance around their master, while Saturn’s duo remained fixed.