by Alex Martin
Executive Director
November 14, 2024
Like any typical SSC in downtown St. Pete, Chris and I arrived around 4:30pm and began setting up eight telescopes, our bags and stepstools strewn about. Funny enough, the sight of us setting up stopped no one. People had heard about the main event, and were eager to witness it for themselves, even though Saturn and the Moon wouldn't touch for another five hours. We estimate that within an hour of simply unpacking our cars, 100 people had already come through SSC.
With a sign promoting the partial occultation of Saturn and the Moon, and telling people to return at 9:15pm to be in line for the 9:45pm peak, the hype was real. Waves of people gathered to catch those first glimpses four hours...three hours...two hours before it began. We'd see sparse intermissions as people grabbed dessert, or went for a stroll to circle back around, but more often than not, 50+ people were in line in the hours leading up to the peak.
For me, the experience was reminiscent of watching the Total Solar Eclipse this past April, at a festival up in Batesville, Indiana where Sidewalk Science Center was hired by the library and city to provide six telescopes for public viewing. Just like then, the atmosphere was electric, the anticipation ready for an explosive release. Celestial events have no pause button: they are coming whether you miss it or not. People on the street corner knew they were about to see something special. We (rightfully) touted this as a once-in-a-lifetime event: when is the next time you're going to be in the right spot at the right time and have free access to telescopes when something as cool as Saturn touching the Moon is happening overhead?
By 9:00pm, hundreds of people filled the sidewalk, lined up into the grass and across the way by the Kapok Tree next to the Museum of Fine Arts. People came over from restaurants and shops down the street, curious to learn what was happening, and sticking around to witness it for themselves. Truly, this was a unique celebration, and hundreds of people were sharing it together, whether they knew about it beforehand or had simply stumbled across it (the core tenet of our model, of course). We like to think that, in all of Sarasota, Bradenton, and St. Pete, this was the only "Occultation of Saturn" pop-up party of its kind.
9:15pm
In he telescopes, the Moon was on its final approach toward Saturn, the apparent gap between the pair of celestial bodies closing with every second. People took a look, then circled to the end of the line for another look a few minutes later that would show the two even closer, real-time evidence of the Moon's counterclockwise motion through the sky.
9:30pm
Saturn was now in its optimal position to view, crisp and clear beside the comparatively massive craters along the limb of the Moon. Our best cell phone picture of the event came right about this time.
9:40pm
I'll never forget the sheer joy of this 20-something guy when he looked through the telescope and saw Saturn practically touching now. He started bouncing on the balls of his feet, exclaiming how cool it looked, to the laughter of other people waiting in line.
9:45pm - the climax
Saturn touched the Moon. Now, when I had used to the app to show people this event, the very edge of Saturn's rings grazed the Moon. But remember, apps like that use mathematics to make predictions. What did we actually see? Half of Saturn's rings vanished! The globe of Saturn appeared to bump the limb of the Moon, virtually no gap separating them. It was even cooler than the app made it out to be!
The glare of the Moon being so close made capturing a clear image of Saturn a little difficult. Doable, yes! But I discovered the optimal picture points were about 15 minutes before and after the occultation.
9:50pm
The Moon completes its pass, and we could now noticeably see Saturn appearing to get farther from the limb, the gap between them once again widening.
In the end, this was an incredible sight to behold. I've seen this briefly occur with Mars before, but it was my first time ever seeing an Occultation of Saturn. Clear skies, hundreds of people, eight telescopes... We could not have asked for a better place, time, and crowd to share this celestial event.
As I've told others, we could have gone down to Sarasota and watched Saturn get fully covered by the Moon. Full occultations are the prime target of astronomers everywhere. However, there would have been 45 minutes where Saturn was gone from view and we'd only be staring at the Moon (like what is about to happen to Mars on January 13th no matter where we go in SWFL). Choosing a location where Saturn grazed the Moon, but didn't disappear behind it, provided an ongoing, exciting experience that hundreds of people could witness without standing around for 45 minutes waiting for Saturn to come back, which, admittedly, would have killed the pent-up energy.
Many times, celestial events are hyped up in the media, but lack any good payoff. The "second moon," most comets, and more than a handful of "planetary alignments" are examples off the top of my head. The last good planetary alignment was June 2022; all others since have been duds I myself haven't even bothered attempting to see, and certainly escaped the gaze of any non-astronomer. We need more news stations working with observational astronomers (emphasis on observational...) to provide bits and information about upcoming celestial phenomena that people can see with naked eye (or visit SSC to witness).
Admittedly, it came as a surprise that news stations didn't promote this conjunction of Saturn and the Moon, an event that was easily visible if you glanced up long enough to notice the bright dot right beside the Moon. Anyone with a telescope or binoculars would have seen this, too. It's an interesting juxtaposition to consider, and maybe we should reach out next time, such as for the Mars occultation on January 13th @ 9pm (mark your calendars now, and come to SSC in St. Pete for this one again).
Observational astronomy, and of course, the outreach surrounding it, is crucial to paying off hype and showing people the exciting aspects we can all appreciate and share together. Astronomy is a lesson in patience: the sky moves slowly, and we often have to wait for the "cool" things. For weeks (months, even) we've been sharing Saturn in the sky...and it's been the only object visible. Finally, Jupiter has joined it, so we can now show off the two gas giants at the same time, plus the Moon when it swings into the nighttime each month. I've seen firsthand the disappointment people have when they come up asking to see the second moon, or the comet, or a planetary alignment, or some asteroid passing by, and we have to tell them, "Unfortunately, that was all overhyped..."'
When it comes to astronomy, we have to strategically cultivate interest. Instead of tossing around every little event that "looks" newsworthy, we should instead consult with observational astronomers and prepare people for the "next big thing." We need to put out accurate diagrams and provide resources letting people know how to view events, or where they can go to view them (such as SSC). Astronomy is incredibly unfamiliar to people, and often requires guided curation and access to resources that people simply do not have, or know how to use.
That's why we're here. SSC strives to be a regular and reliable community resource that encourages slowed-down thinking, critical reasoning, and science communication skills where you can come and use our telescopes, perform our science experiments, have a conversation with a knowledgeable professional who practices science and astronomy on a day-to-day basis and can guide you through questions, or help you think about a subject in a scientific lens.
So join us one evening, explore the universe, and develop the appreciation that we are so passionate about sharing.
We'll see you on the sidewalk.
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