fandomhigh | Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets

Week 8 -- October 25: Saturn, the ringed planet

Syllabus | Class Roster

Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead

The strains of Holst's Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age greet the class that afternoon as they arrive. "Today we're going to talk about Saturn," Ellie said.

"Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant (also known as a Jovian planet, after the planet Jupiter), the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. It was named after the Roman god Saturn (the Greek equivalent is Kronos, father of Zeus).

"The rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with his telescope, but he was unable to identify them as such. He wrote to the Duke of Tuscany that 'The planet Saturn is not alone, but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones [the edges of the rings].' He also described Saturn as having 'ears.' In 1612 the plane of the rings was oriented directly at the Earth and the rings appeared to vanish, and then in 1613 they reappeared again, further confusing Galileo."

Ellie went on to talk about the composition of Saturn and its rings, and its many many moons. "There's Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System and a great candidate for life. And Mimas is very interesting, it has a huge impact crater 130 km across!

"No observation tonight because it's cloudy out. Remember, no class next week because of mid-term break, and your midterm project is due November 8th!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All collapsey like.

Shawn Farrell.

William Kessler

Luke Skywalker.

Marie D'Ancanto

Kaylee Frye

Teddy Altman

Parker

Matilda Wormwood

Gwynn Hood

Kinomoto Sakura ~~a week late~~

Talk, pass notes, etc.

Marie tried to stay awake during Ellie's lecture. The subject was interesting, but she was still pretty weak.

Parker sent a paper airplane her way: Take a nap, I'll take notes.

Luke was doing fine, ~~doodling~~ taking plenty of notes and listening to the lecture.

And then the slide of Mimas went up, and all of the color drained from his face.

[OOC: lalala I certainly haven't posted this a bazillion and one times, la, move along...]

Teddy tossed a note over onto Luke's desk.

You okay>

Luke read the letter, bit back hysterical laughter, then shook his head rapidly.

Teddy looked worried and tossed another note.

Vader thing?

Luke nodded, then raised his hand.

"Professor? Are you sure that's a moon?" he asked, voice shaking.

Ellie looked Luke over and frowned at his pale appearance. "Yes, I'm certain," she said. "Is something wrong?"

Luke paused. Saying "it looks like a planet-destroying superweapon" would probably not go over well. "There was something that looked very similar at home," he said instead, trying not to freak out too visible. "It wasn't a moon."

"The Cassini probe got pretty close while taking these pictures," Ellie said. "I'm not aware of anything unusual that might have been detected. What does it look like to you?"

"A battle station," Luke said finally, then went back to staring at his desk.

Ellie blinked. "A battle station that big?" she said. "That's...incredible."

"It was designed to destroy planets," Luke told the top of his desk. "I helped blow it up," he said, satisfaction evident in his voice.

"Good for you," Ellie said, still a bit baffled by the thought of something that would destroy planets. "No one should have that kind of power."

"They don't now," Luke said with a grim smile. "It didn't go over terribly well."

Gwynn had been taking notes and looking around. She was concerned when she saw Luke go pale.

No, I didn't link Mimas just to freak Luke out. *cackle*

"Hey, sorry I wasn't in class last week, I got turned into a lizard."

Ellie blinked. "Well, I suppose that's an acceptable excuse around here."

"Seems to happen often. Well, as far as I know I'm the only one to turn into a reptile. What'd I miss?"

"Jupiter," Ellie said. "You can catch up on most of it by reading the chapter in your textbook."

"Cool thanks. Jupiter's, the Roman version of Zeus right?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes, the Greeks called him Zeus, the Romans called him Jupiter."

The end.

>>; Totally handwaving Sakura's absence if that's okay by you, I was sick last week and everything just kinda... went by without telling me. >>;;

Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 8

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