Welcome to the Astro minute, where we’re exploring the universe sixty seconds at a time. I’m Lauren Smyth and today we’re admiring a bejeweled giant.


Saturn, the second largest planet in our solar system, is known for its spectacular rings, a vast system of orbiting bands of dust- to mountain-sized icy, rocky particles. And Saturn’s numerous moons, over one hundred forty and counting, are complex worlds with a wild variety of features, like methane lakes, underground seas, and giant plumes.


Sunlight takes eighty minutes to reach distant Saturn. But even from earth’s viewpoint a billion miles away, this icy gas giant is easy to see with the unaided eye. Look online to see if it’s up, then find this yellowy-orange planet along the ecliptic, the sun’s path across the sky. Strong binoculars can reveal the oblong appearance of the ringed planet, and often its largest moon Titan.


That’s your astro minute!