Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, is distinguished by its prominent rings. However, sometimes these rings… go missing.
Or at least they appear to. It’s a phenomenon that happens every 13 to 15 years. This week on “Something Offbeat” we hopped on the case to find out why.
Host Mike Rogers talked to the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, all about it.
“So, the Earth passes through the ring plane twice in a year, every 15 years… this is the year,” Plait explained. “And we’re passing through them in March for the first time. And the problem is Saturn is too close to the sun to see it – it’s on the other side of the sun. If you try to point a telescope at it, you’d be looking at it during the day. It’s not going to do much good. However, in November it’s going to happen again, and Earth will get very close to passing through the ring plane, which means we’ll be seeing those rings edge on.”
While we’ll be able to see the illusion of Saturn’s rings disappearing this year, there’s also a real threat to the rings’ existence. Listen to the full episode here to learn what it is.
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.