What's Your Favorite Planet?
Tony Flanders
and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
answer.
My favorite planet is Jupiter, because it is so big, so easy to
observe, and constantly changing. It is easily observable at some
reasonable time on well over half of all nights, and no matter how
bad the conditions, there is always *something* to see. If nothing
else, there is the clocklike regularity of the Galilean moons, and
the substantial chance of catching an "event", like a transit or
an occultation. And even the crudest features, the two big belts,
viewed at very low power, change dramatically over fairly short
time spans. When the seeing is good enough to see the lesser
belts and the festoons and all the other details, Jupiter changes
significantly from one night to the next.
Saturn, of course, is unspeakably lovely -- a plausible candidate
for the single most beautiful thing that any person can ever see,
night or day. But Saturn's beauty always seems cold to me, in
contrast to the warm, lush colors of Jupiter. I know why the
ancients associated Saturn with the god of time, but if they had
had telescopes, I bet that Saturn would have been the virgin
planet, even colder than the Moon, with the rings as its chastity
belt.
I bet that most people will choose either Jupiter or Saturn as
their favorite, but a substantial minority must prefer Mars.
The most aproachable planet to the naked-eye observer, and the
most tantalizing to the telescopic observer, its challenge
is a big part of its allure. And also the fact that it is the
planet most like Earth, the only one that shows substantial
detail on its solid surface.
Somwhere out there, no doubt, is somebody whose favorite is
Venus or Mercury, or maybe even Uranus or Neptune. Pretty
perverse, if you ask me: viewing detail on any of those planets
makes Mars seem like a piece of cake. Although I grant that all
of them except for Neptune have their allure as naked-eye objects,
especially Venus. And Uranus and Neptune are quite lovely
through a telescope, albeit featureless.
As for Pluto, I am glad that I have seen it once -- actually twice,
on successive nights. Wouldn't have missed it for anything. On
the other hand, I don't have a great desire to see it again,
although no doubt I will sometime.
- Tony Flanders
![Ron B[ee]'s profile photo](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/default-user=s40-c)
Ron B[ee]
of Saturn is unique and jaw dropping, when Mars get close, my
2nd choice goes to Mars simply because there's more to see and
at this last opposition, the view has been fantastics, almost looked
like a similar earth except for the color difference! If Mars were
*always* at opposition ;-), it would have been my top choice.
And that leaves Saturn a 3rd runner up.
As for Uranus and Neptune, Venus and Mercury, well they're
dreary to me. I haven't seen Pluto through my TV-102 Light
Cup yet, simply because I thought it impossible. But my recent
seeing of stars down to more than 13 magnitude have caused me
now to put Pluto into my 4" refractor holy grail.
Ron B[ee]
-----------
"Tony Flanders" <tony_f...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:958c21.011130...@posting.google.com...
> What's you favorite planet? asks Stuart Goldman in the January Sky
> and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
>
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
...snip...
> - Tony Flanders
Anthony Ayiomamitis
> What's you favorite planet? asks Stuart Goldman in the January Sky
> and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
>
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
>
> My favorite planet is Jupiter, because it is so big, so easy to
> observe, and constantly changing. It is easily observable at some
> reasonable time on well over half of all nights, and no matter how
> bad the conditions, there is always *something* to see. If nothing
> else, there is the clocklike regularity of the Galilean moons, and
> the substantial chance of catching an "event", like a transit or
> an occultation. And even the crudest features, the two big belts,
> viewed at very low power, change dramatically over fairly short
> time spans. When the seeing is good enough to see the lesser
> belts and the festoons and all the other details, Jupiter changes
> significantly from one night to the next.
>
> Saturn, of course, is unspeakably lovely -- a plausible candidate
> for the single most beautiful thing that any person can ever see,
> night or day. But Saturn's beauty always seems cold to me, in
> contrast to the warm, lush colors of Jupiter. I know why the
Hi Tony,
> ancients associated Saturn with the god of time, but if they had
Alright, I will bite. In Greek we know Saturn as "Kronos" which is
indeed time as you mention. However, what was the rationale behind this
nomenclature?
Anthony.
Jim Wayda
and was never able to see any detail on the surface of Mars from my location
here in the Orange County California. I also tried viewing from Joshua Tree
and had similar poor results. Mars was a total waste of time from my
location. Too bad I was not down in the lower latitudes like Florida. I am
anxiously awaiting the next opposition.
As for my favorite planet, It is definitely as tossup between Jupiter and
Saturn, although I am partial to Jupiter because it is possible to see more
surface detail and I enjoy the moon transits.
-jim
"Ron B[ee]" <ro...@home.com> wrote in message
news:NZON7.146135$SF4.3...@news1.rdc1.sdca.home.com...
George Anderson
George
Clear skies and good health
Len B.
> What's you favorite planet? asks Stuart Goldman in the January Sky
> and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
>
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
>
> My favorite planet is Jupiter, because it is so big, so easy to
> observe, and constantly changing.
>
My favorite also . Called the king of planets and
rightly so !
Mars is more interesting than Saturn but it makes you wait years for
its revelations .
Oh well the king is still the king !
Len B.
Brian Tung
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
My favorite planet is Mars. Jupiter is great, too, of course, but in part
because it's more available. Mars is fickle, and presents us with good
viewing opportunities only for a few months every two years.
But man oh man, when those few months come around, what delights! And I
prefer it specifically because when I observe it, I am seeing terra firma--
not the Earth, but good honest solid land, all the same.
E pur si cambia--and it *does* change. Sand storms, the subtle steely
blue of Syrtis Major at times, the growing and shrinking polar caps--it
all speaks of a living world. And not just climate, but weather too,
with the daily morning and evening clouds limning the edges of the Martian
disc. No other planet in the solar system rewards patience and high power
as Mars does.
Brian Tung <br...@isi.edu>
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt
Sjoplinh
answer.<<
Why the &#@* not?? ;-)
sj
Voodoo Ink
Curtis Croulet
When did you view? Mars was OK in June, but it *was* a waste of time after
the big dust storm hit.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
+33° 27' 59", -117° 05' 53"
Curtis Croulet
magnitude galaxies. So, my favorite planet is Saturn. I most often see it
in a public or school star party situation, and it's the object that
impresses the public more than any other. In a steady sky, it *is* a pretty
amazing sight.
Esmail Bonakdarian
skies, they get even more attention. I missed Mars this year around, while
I managed to make out some surface features with my ST80, by the time I
got my XT-8, storms had already started to obscure the surface of Mars.
I was just thinking the other night how lovely our home planet must look
like if it was possible for someone to steer their telescope towards Earth,
from say Mars or Jupiter.
The blue color, plus the ever changing while cloud cover would simply make
for a delicious view.
Esmail
---
Esmail Bonakdarian - esm...@cs.mercer.edu - http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~bonak
32N 83W
* Thank you George Harrison *
Brian Tung
> Jupiter and Saturn for the same reasons you stated. Now with light polluted
> skies, they get even more attention. I missed Mars this year around, while
> I managed to make out some surface features with my ST80, by the time I
> got my XT-8, storms had already started to obscure the surface of Mars.
>
> I was just thinking the other night how lovely our home planet must look
> like if it was possible for someone to steer their telescope towards Earth,
> from say Mars or Jupiter.
>
> The blue color, plus the ever changing while cloud cover would simply make
> for a delicious view.
Try this:
http://astro.isi.edu/notes/earth.html
Sketcher
Venus is my favorite naked-eye planet -- it's BRIALLIANT. It tends to
show up at convenient times, a bit after sunset or a bit before
sunrise. It gets plenty high enough in my sky for easy viewing.
Saturn is my favorite for relatively small and/or low quality
telescopes. It has a ring!
Jupiter is my favorite for larger and/or higher quality telescopes.
With the right equipment and a bit of patience Jupiter shows a very
interesting, detailed, and rapidly changing disk. Even the planet's
rotation is evident in just a few minutes of observing.
Mars is my favorite on the rare occasions when it gets reasonably high
in my sky near a relatively favorable opposition. A large part of the
attraction is attributable to the rarity of "good" oppositions for my
northerly latitude. A telescope of sufficient aperture and quality is
another factor in choosing Mars as a favorite.
Pluto is a favorite when I'm pushing my lower aperture limits. How
small can I go and still be able to positively see it?
Mercury was a favorite during its last solar transit -- observed with
a reasonably decent telescope equipped with a good solar filter.
Uranus and Neptune . . . what can I say? I suppose they were my
favorites when I saw them for the first time ;-)
Sketcher
To sketch is to see.
http://www.rangeweb.net/~sketcher/
Axel
due to the dust storms. I was able to get satisfying views one week
here in Houston and then the next week it was all over for the rest of
the summer!
Ritesh
lmg
"Anthony Ayiomamitis" <ant...@perseus.gr> wrote in message
news:3C07BDFF...@perseus.gr...
> Hi Tony,
>
> > ancients associated Saturn with the god of time, but if they had
>
> Alright, I will bite. In Greek we know Saturn as "Kronos" which is
> indeed time as you mention. However, what was the rationale behind this
> nomenclature?
The mythological reason is that Saturn (Kronos) is the father of Jupiter
(Zeus). Another reason would be that it is the slowest moving of the visible
planets, taking a generation to circle the sky.
I read somewhere that "Jupiter" is derived from "Ia Pater" - Sky Father.
lmg
Jim Wayda
to SAA from the lower latitudes. Summer is a very bad time in Southern
California for good seeing.
-jim
"Axel" <rites...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9ba65d5d.01113...@posting.google.com...
Esmail Bonakdarian
cc
Paul Schlyter
Tony Flanders wrote:
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
> Somwhere out there, no doubt, is somebody whose favorite is
> Venus or Mercury, or maybe even Uranus or Neptune. Pretty
> perverse, if you ask me: viewing detail on any of those planets
> makes Mars seem like a piece of cake.
the same as the question "on what planet do you see most interesting
details?". It's not: the two questions are different, and the
answers to them can therefore be different.
Personally I favour Venus when it appears as a thin crescent, because
I think it's just beautiful then. If you consider me a "pervert"
because of that, well that's your problem... :-)
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
Grev Turegatan 40, S-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at saaf dot se
WWW: http://home.tiscali.se/~pausch/
John J. Kasianowicz
> >>Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.<<
It really should be. Earth is lovely, it has a breathable atmosphere, it is
readily accessible, and existing German equatorial mounts are geared for its
rotation rate.
John J. Kasianowicz
Sketcher wrote:
[snip]
Paul Schlyter
would be the obvious choice. I mean, who would want to freeze to
death on the Moon or Mars, or breathe ammonia on Jupiter or Saturn,
or be fried on Venus or Mercury?
Even as a telescopic object, the Earth would win. Consider a view
from Venus when closest to the Earth: the Earth would then be one
acrminute across (larger than Jupiter as seen from the Earth), and
with a lot of interesting details too (an ever changing cloudscape,
and beneath that continents and oceans). And as an added bonus there
would be the Moon, about a degree or so away from the Earth. The
color contrast between the Earth and the Moon would be quite striking
-- somewhat like a naked-eye Albireo but with the colors reversed.
Richard Bullock
"Paul Schlyter" <pau...@saaf.se> wrote in message
news:9ubimp$qq8$1...@merope.saaf.se...
> In article <9ub0h9$d58$1...@bob.news.rcn.net>,
> John J. Kasianowicz <sur...@erols.com> wrote:
>
> >> >>Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> >> answer.<<
> >
> > It really should be. Earth is lovely, it has a breathable atmosphere, it
is
> > readily accessible, and existing German equatorial mounts are geared for
its
> > rotation rate.
>
> The Earth is excluded as an acceptable answer because otherwise it
> would be the obvious choice. I mean, who would want to freeze to
> death on the Moon or Mars, or breathe ammonia on Jupiter or Saturn,
> or be fried on Venus or Mercury?
>
> Even as a telescopic object, the Earth would win. Consider a view
> from Venus
I take it you mean from a spacecraft orbiting Venus?? I don't suppose you'd
see too much from the surface itself!
when closest to the Earth: the Earth would then be one
> acrminute across (larger than Jupiter as seen from the Earth)
And at mag -6.6 too! The moon wouldn't be unimpressive as well. It would be
15 arcseconds across at a mag of -2.5 which would be about the same as
Jupiter when it is at its closest to Venus (except that Jupiter would have
an angular size of about 3 times that of the moon)
, and
> with a lot of interesting details too (an ever changing cloudscape,
> and beneath that continents and oceans). And as an added bonus there
> would be the Moon, about a degree or so away from the Earth.
I get it around half a degree away. It would still be impressive though
especially as they would some of the brightest things in the night sky.
The
> color contrast between the Earth and the Moon would be quite striking
> -- somewhat like a naked-eye Albireo but with the colors reversed.
>
Ric
Paul Schlyter
Richard Bullock <richard...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> "Paul Schlyter" <pau...@saaf.se> wrote in message
> news:9ubimp$qq8$1...@merope.saaf.se...
>> In article <9ub0h9$d58$1...@bob.news.rcn.net>,
>> John J. Kasianowicz <sur...@erols.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>>>Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
>>>> answer.<<
>>>
>>> It really should be. Earth is lovely, it has a breathable atmosphere, it
>>> is readily accessible, and existing German equatorial mounts are geared
>>> for its rotation rate.
>>
>> The Earth is excluded as an acceptable answer because otherwise it
>> would be the obvious choice. I mean, who would want to freeze to
>> death on the Moon or Mars, or breathe ammonia on Jupiter or Saturn,
>> or be fried on Venus or Mercury?
>>
>> Even as a telescopic object, the Earth would win. Consider a view
>> from Venus
>
> I take it you mean from a spacecraft orbiting Venus?? I don't suppose you'd
> see too much from the surface itself!
Which implies either a spacecraft of some kind, or a balloon floating
above the cloudtops of Venus (with a ground pressure of some 100 atm,
the pressure at the cloudtops ought to be of the order of magnitude of
1 atm).
> when closest to the Earth: the Earth would then be one
>> acrminute across (larger than Jupiter as seen from the Earth)
>
> And at mag -6.6 too! The moon wouldn't be unimpressive as well. It would be
> 15 arcseconds across at a mag of -2.5 which would be about the same as
> Jupiter when it is at its closest to Venus (except that Jupiter would have
> an angular size of about 3 times that of the moon)
>
>> , and with a lot of interesting details too (an ever changing cloudscape,
>> and beneath that continents and oceans). And as an added bonus there
>> would be the Moon, about a degree or so away from the Earth.
>
> I get it around half a degree away.
order-of-magnitude estimate, and apparently got it right within a
factor of 2. That's why I wrote "a degree or so" -- which to me
could be half a degree or two degrees -- but mostly it says that it's
only a very crude estimate.
> It would still be impressive though
> especially as they would some of the brightest things in the night sky.
because it light pollutes their skies? :-))))
>> The color contrast between the Earth and the Moon would be quite striking
>> -- somewhat like a naked-eye Albireo but with the colors reversed.
>
> Ric
Richard Bullock
because it is do different every day with the cloud bands. You'd be able to
see hurricanes as they tracked across the tropics. The disc iteslf is just
on the resolving limit for the naked eye so it would be accessible for all
with even low power binoculars.
Ric
Morgoth's Cat
scribed:
>What's you favorite planet? asks Stuart Goldman in the January Sky
>and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
>
>Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
>answer.
>
>My favorite planet is Jupiter, because it is so big, so easy to
>observe, and constantly changing. It is easily observable at some
>reasonable time on well over half of all nights, and no matter how
>bad the conditions, there is always *something* to see. If nothing
>else, there is the clocklike regularity of the Galilean moons, and
>the substantial chance of catching an "event", like a transit or
>an occultation. And even the crudest features, the two big belts,
>viewed at very low power, change dramatically over fairly short
>time spans. When the seeing is good enough to see the lesser
>belts and the festoons and all the other details, Jupiter changes
>significantly from one night to the next.
>
>Saturn, of course, is unspeakably lovely -- a plausible candidate
>for the single most beautiful thing that any person can ever see,
>night or day. But Saturn's beauty always seems cold to me, in
>contrast to the warm, lush colors of Jupiter. I know why the
>ancients associated Saturn with the god of time, but if they had
>had telescopes, I bet that Saturn would have been the virgin
>planet, even colder than the Moon, with the rings as its chastity
>belt.
>
Which reminds me - does Titan ever transit the disc of Saturn?
Best Regards,
Dave
--
**************************************************************
* Supernovae, Supernova Remnants and Young-Earth Creationism *
* http://www.valinor.freeserve.co.uk/supernova.html *
**************************************************************
Brian Tung
> Which reminds me - does Titan ever transit the disc of Saturn?
It surely must--but not when the rings, and Saturn's equatorial plane,
are so far inclined to us as they are now.
Tony Flanders
> It really should be. Earth is lovely, it has a breathable atmosphere, it is
> readily accessible, and existing German equatorial mounts are geared for its
> rotation rate.
Yeah, that atmosphere... As somebody pointed out a couple of years
ago in s.a.a., the real problem with observing isn't light pollution,
it's all those selfish people who insist on breathing. Think how
great the telescopic views would be if we got rid of the atmosphere!
- Tony Flanders
Dave Burke
>
> Well, what's your favorite planet? Sorry, Earth is not an acceptable
> answer.
I have to pull for Earth as well. After all, if you've got to observe
from someplace, it's nice to choose a planet without planet-wide dust
storms which last for months :-)
And you thought the "new scope" curse was bad here! I wonder what that
poor Martian ordered?
Dave B.
John J. Kasianowicz
Apochromatic refractor there this past Spring.
Dave Burke wrote:
[snip]
John Savard
part:
>The Earth is excluded as an acceptable answer because otherwise it
>would be the obvious choice. I mean, who would want to freeze to
>death on the Moon or Mars, or breathe ammonia on Jupiter or Saturn,
>or be fried on Venus or Mercury?
Well, had the condition _not_ been mentioned, one could with tongue in
cheek reply that the Earth is indeed one's favorite planet, because if
it is not kept in good condition, one will not be able to remain alive
to observe!
And *then* one could proceed to reply in an on-topic matter that one
considers Saturn the most beautiful, or Jupiter the most accessible,
or Mars the most mysterious.
Of course, from the Moon, Earth would be the *most* thrilling object
in the heavens to observe.
Andy
Saturn, As a child I was camping in the South of France and meet a
French guy with a telesope in the camp site car park. He let anybody
and everybody look through his scope at Saturn. I will never forget
staring at the rings in total awe. I can only speak enough French to
ask for a beer and he had no English at all. But for that hour or so
it made no difference.
I can not look at Saturn without feeling like the child I was. My
favorite planet.
Andy
Richard Bullock
"John Savard" <jsa...@ecn.aSBLOKb.caNADA.invalid> wrote in message
news:3c0c6110...@news.powersurfr.com...
some sort of filter!
At its brightest, mag -17.5
An Earth viewed solar eclipse would look good from the moon though.
Ric
Richard Bullock
"Andy" <an...@kitemail.com> wrote in message
news:71fc1c17.01120...@posting.google.com...
Mercure, Venus, Terre, Mars, Jupiter, Saturne, Uranus, Neptune, Pluton.
Ric
Sjoplinh
> in the heavens to observe.
>
And the most dazzling. You wouldn't be able to point a scope at it without
some sort of filter!
At its brightest, mag -17.5<<
Uh-oh... not again! ;-)
sj
Florian
-Florian
________________________
Florian.Boyd * Stargazer
http://www.stargazer.org
Dave Mitsky
> What's you favorite planet? asks Stuart Goldman in the January Sky
> and Telescope. His answer is Saturn.
>
> answer.
snip
- Tony Flanders
Tony,
For me it's a toss-up between Mars at opposition and Jupiter most any
time its visible. Mars is unique in that it is the only planet other
than Earth that exhibits surface features. Jupiter presents an ever
changing array of cloud features and Galilean satellite events.
Overall, the nod goes to the king of the planets.
Saturn, once its initial allure has waned, is not nearly as
interesting to me. It's fun to look for all its easily visible
satellites and the various ring features, however. BTW, I certainly
can't agree with your supposition that Saturn is the single most
beautiful thing that a person could ever see. There are numerous
terrestrial vistas as well sunsets, thunderstorms, aurorae, total
solar eclipses, bolides, works of art and architecture, and quite a
few women that rate higher on my list.
Venus is very pleasing to the eye when it reaches a very thin crescent
phase.
As far as the others, well, I've seen all the planets in a single
night on more than one occasion and I never spend much time on
Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
Dave Mitsky