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Tiger Blood
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At which distance can you see Saturn's ring with a naked eye? I guess you would not be able to see it from Mars?
Chronos said:Roughly 300,000,000 kilometers, or about 22% of its current distance. The rings of Saturn would not always be discernable even if it were in the orbit occupied by Mars.
Completely wrong!Chronos said:It takes about a 25x telescope to resolve the rings of Saturn. For Saturn to appear 25 time larger to the unaided eye, it must be 4.67 times closer (inverse square law - 2^n = 25; n = 4.67).
snorkack said:But you can see many details on Moon. How much do you need to magnify Saturn to detect that it is not a point?
Under the square root law, the coversion factor is n^2, not 2^n (I plead dyslexia). At a distance of 1.4 billion km, Saturn would need to be at a distance of 280 million km, not 300 million km to magnify it by 25x.snorkack said:Completely wrong!
You are taking logarithm and calling it square root. And you should not have even root in the first place, because telescope magnification is quoted as linear.
Saturn with rings is about 46 arc seconds wide at opposition closest approach to Earth. So at 40x magnification, or approaching to 0.25 AU, Saturn´s rings will span the width of full Moon.
But you can see many details on Moon. How much do you need to magnify Saturn to detect that it is not a point?
Chronos said:Under the square root law, the coversion factor is n^2, not 2^n (I plead dyslexia). At a distance of 1.4 billion km, Saturn would need to be at a distance of 280 million km, not 300 million km to magnify it by 25x.
glappkaeft is right, Chronos. "Magnification" is a measure of the linear increase in size, not the area increase in size. If you bring an object half as far away, you increase its apparent diameter by a factor of two.Chronos said:Under the square root law, the coversion factor is n^2, not 2^n (I plead dyslexia). At a distance of 1.4 billion km, Saturn would need to be at a distance of 280 million km, not 300 million km to magnify it by 25x.
russ_watters said:glappkaeft is right, Chronos. "Magnification" is a measure of the linear increase in size, not the area increase in size. If you bring an object half as far away, you increase its apparent diameter by a factor of two.
http://www.rocketmime.com/astronomy/Telescope/Magnification.html
Saturn's rings are made up of countless small particles of ice and dust that reflect light, making them visible from Earth.
The distance between Saturn and Earth varies depending on their positions in their respective orbits, but on average, Saturn is approximately 1.2 billion kilometers away from Earth.
Yes, the rings of Saturn can be seen with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth as long as the sky is dark and clear, and there is no obstruction such as clouds or light pollution.
Yes, Saturn's rings are more visible during its opposition, which is when it is directly opposite the Sun in the sky. This usually occurs once a year and is the best time to view Saturn's rings.
Yes, a telescope can enhance the view of Saturn's rings by providing a closer and more detailed look. It can also help to distinguish between the different rings and their features.