When I was a kid obsessed with space, Saturn and Jupiter really fascinated me with their size, colours, rings, moons and their metallic hydrogen cores. I drew pictures of the planets, coloured them and labeled their structures, it was really fun.
I've yet to see Saturn's rings myself through a telescope. For me, what got me into astronomy was seeing Jupiter and the Galilean moons through a telescope, I Could even somewhat make out the red dot. I'll never forget that moment, it sparked a lifelong love for the universe in me.
+cougarhunter33, for a moment I thought that he could be coming from another planet where one year aging for us here on Earth is about ten years where he came from. lol
Just looked at Saturn through a telescope for the first time about a week ago in my astronomy class. I love astronomy but I've never been good at the actual math part of science, so it never turned into anything more than a side hobby. And the class is only to fulfill my one science requirement in college as an English major. But the class has opened my eyes and changed the way I view the world, and now I just want to go and buy a telescope so I can continue to look at the sky once the course ends.
I'm so glad you added the note about how amazing it is to see saturn in a telescope. It should be on everyone's bucket list. I saw it through a 13" reflecting telescope on Mauna Kea, and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so real, like a perfect little porcelain toy hanging there in space. Truly amazing, I will never forget it.
shay campbell OMG! just noticed the three kerbals on the desk! :3 i love that game bought it three years ago and its one of my most played steam games xD
I've always been interested in astronomy, but never deeply got into it, it all started two months ago when I was looking at the moon with a cheap terrestrial telescope, magnifying it 20x, I spotted a bright interesting ''star'' right next to it, sitting low in the sky, and I decided to look at it. After few minutes looking at it with a very low power small telescope and blurry atmosphere, I realized it was Saturn! Before this, I never knew we can even look at planets trough a telescope! I was completely amazed, and 1 week later, I already made tons of researches about astronomy, bought a bigger refractor 90mm telescope, than barely one month later, I bought a much bigger C8 Edge 203mm reflector on CGEM mount and I'm about to start deep sky astrophotography... All this, thanks to Saturn! I'm totally in love with astronomy!
I work at the observatory at my university and I host public star parties every weekend. I love seeing everyone’s reactions to seeing the planets for the first time. The amount of wonder and excitement they get is so rewarding.
heypookeybearitisi That _IS_ an old joke. Over a century! I first heard it from Clyde Tombaugh when taking astronomy courses at New Mexico State in the 80's. I love that Phil pays homage to the tradition!
The first time I saw Saturn through a telescope I was also left speechless! I remember I called my wife, in excitement, and then she took a quick peek, said okay, and ran back to the house to keep watching that damn soap opera she was watching. :|
It's always so disappointing when you get all worked up and excited about these things, and explain them passionately to someone, and they just reply like you told them that they should get milk next time they go to the store... I will never understand the people who don't find astronomy very cool...
10:30 the saturn thing is so true. Of course we knew the images we saw of saturn were real, but to see it through a telescope is a completely different experience
Shenanigans I'd be disappointed if Uranus and Neptune were combined in one episode, but that's mostly the fault of us not sending more than one mission to visit them. As for Pluto, I am sure SciShow Space will talk about the discoveries in detail.
One of my earliest memories is my dad finding Saturn with a telescope and an amateur astronomy guide book he bought and showing it to me. Of all the cool space stuff I've been fortunate enough to see (Saturn, Venus , the ISS, Jupiter, the Hale-Bopp comet and a few eclipses). Saturn is easily the most impressive even it was just a tiny dot with a slash through it.
before i start watching the video, i just wanna say YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED I AM WHENEVER A NEW CRASH COURSE ASTRONOMY VIDEO IS POSTED. So yeah thank you~ okay watching the precious video right now.
I wish it have known astronomy years ago. I'm loving it, I'd probably seek a profession in this area.... Congratulations, Phil. You have one of the greatest course in this Chanel! I'm very happy to be able to see it and understand it, cause I'm from Brazil. Learned English by my own. Cheers!
I was at the Lowell observatory in Flagstaff Az back in 2013 and the astronomer there had his telescope set up. I looked through it and BAM there was Saturn in all it's glory. I thanked him and told him I would love to get into studying astronomy but felt I wasn't smart enough. He laughed at my nonsense. A few years later my wife bought me a telescope for Christmas and a few months later I saw Saturn (Easter Sunday 2017). It took my breath away again. My two little newborn puppies were at my feet and could sense my excitement!!! Saturn truly is inspiring.
Pooja Deshpande I must tell you. There is a lot more to it than learning facts about planets, moons etc. A first glance of astronomy can be cute and harmless. The mathematics behind the physics and the mechanics and everything that follows it is included in studying astronomy. But, good luck with your pursuit! :)
Arthur Dent I am 100% with you. I am myself in chem.eng, and in my last few years I've experianced a lot of people (especially in physics) dropping out one by one due to having the wrong picture of what their major is all about. Mathematics are truly beautiful and we are dependent of it, a tool of sort, without it nothing makes sense and we respect it deeply. Unfortunantly some people are not the "hard working types", thinking that it will all be a dance on roses until they graduate. But with patience and a lot of dicipline (and ofc. loving what you do) one can reach and become anything. I'd rather say good luck to you and all of us. We need it :)
Syeal7 It could also be the factor of life in general, cost of higher education is insane, the stress of raising a family (especially as a single parent), but I digress. I'd love to pursue astronomy but I was never great with math or physics.. then again, my education was flawed, as both schools I went to made me skip a grade (twice) and repeat the same classes while teachers fudged the grade.
This comment will probably become buried, but just wanted to say thank you to CrashCourse for all these amazing videos! I love learning about all these things, and each new video shares at least one new tidbit of information :) and our solar system is awe-inspiring. Again, thank you!
Phil's comment at the end really hit home. I viewed Saturn for the first time on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai, China at elevations of 4200 m and 4680 m. Clearly visible through my scope were Saturn, its larger moons, and of course its rings. At the 4680 m site, we could see the bands of Saturn. Jupiter and its moons were also easy to see, but like Phil I was mesmerized most by Saturn.
I could barely believe it when he said that seeing Saturn through a telescope was many peoples inspiration to become astronomers since it was my turning point into astronomical fascination as well. One of my fondest memories - an unbelievable sight to behold.
A few years back I was on vacation in Florida. It was a warm evening and Saturn was up. Lots of people were drifting in and out of the beach bar. I clamped a pair of binoculars onto my camera tripod, aimed at Saturn, and we all took turns having a look. One of the best evenings of my life.
I saw Saturn a few years ago through a telescope at the local observatory. It was breathtaking. One of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen for sure.
previouslyad Set up a reward system for yourself. After a certain number of problems, you allow yourself one flight. (Or, after mastering one concept, you allow yourself a limited amount of play-time.)
Scientists estimate the rings could be gone in 300 million years, but they could vanish even faster. NASA's Cassini mission made more detailed observations of ring rain, and that data indicates the rings could disappear in just 100 million years.
***** There are probably local astronomy groups in a lot of places. And they're the kind of people who are thrilled to share... you can probably find one near you with a google search. Contact them!
How about going to a telescope shop after dusk and asking to let you see upwards for a little while? Even in highly light-polluted cities, Saturn is usually perfectly visible. And should that doesn't work, such stores may have info about stargazing reunions.
***** Learn a few constellations. Then in the later hours of night, after midnight, Scorpius will rise into the sky, but there will be a star that doesn't belong in the constellation. That's Saturn. Also, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are chilling in a straight line after sunset. Jupiter is the other good planet to look at, as it has it's 4 moons and you can see some of the bands of weather patterns on it. Venus and Mercury usually just reveal their phases and Mars, the only feature you can usually make out is an ice cap. And if you don't have a telescope, you can still see a lot of these features with binoculars, if you can hold them still long enough.
My first planet was Jupiter. My dad was a civil engineer and brought home a surveying transit - essentially a small telescope. With it I was able to see Jupiter and some of its moons. Then Venus in a crescent shape. Saturn had to wait until it came into the night sky for me. Great video series!
Debbie Aguilar It's a resonance pattern; at that latitude, the material in the atmosphere sways slightly north/south three times as it circles the planet, creating a standing wave pattern. Like Phil said, the same phenomenon creates the jet stream in Earth's atmosphere ... but by comparison, our atmosphere spins more slowly and is much hotter, so the standing wave is easily disrupted by other weather effects, so it's much more sinuous than hexagonal.
The first planet I saw through my telescope a few months ago was Jupiter. I remember being in awe. I was finally seeing Jupiter with my own eyes. Not through a screen and not in a photo. Then one morning I woke up really early for some reason. I decided to check my star map app on my phone to see what was out at that time in the morning. I saw Saturn on the app. So of course I hauled my telescope into my backyard. I pointed it at Saturn, looked through the eyepiece and saw the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. I will never forget that moment in my life. I'm 25 and finally got my first telescope a couple months ago. I bought it from a friend who was getting a bigger better one. But I have wanted a telescope since the first time I learned about space and I always wanted to see Saturn and Jupiter. Every time I point my telescope to the sky I feel like that little kid 20 years ago learning about the planets for the first time.
Don't you love it when Phil gets beautiful and talks about one of the reasons he pursued his passion. Goals: to find someone who talks about you the same when Phil talks about Saturn. Love this dude 🌍❤
Hey Phil. I'm not an astronomer, but I've just love astronomy for as long as I can remember. I've seen a few things with the naked eye. But I'll never forget the time I saw Saturn for the first time through a telescope. I pointed the telescope at the brightest "star" I could see. And then I saw it. The rings. I was in awe. It had always been my favorite planet, so to see it in its full glory, for real. Like I say, I'll never forget it. Thanks for the awesome knowledge you pass. It's truly great.
He's not kidding about loving to share astronomy via Saturn. I'm a newbie to astronomy, but I once had a chance to do some stargazing with Phil Plait. He showed our group a bunch of stuff in his telescope, including the M80 Globular Cluster and some other cool star formations. The absolute best, though, was Saturn. It almost looks fake in a good telescope. Perfectly sharp, with the rings bright and easy to see. He was super excited to share it with us. It was an awesome (in the very literal sense) experience.
I can't wait to see Saturn! This show is truly inspiring! The host is so passionate about astronomy he makes it all sound so poetic and fascinating (It is of course, but I never had a teacher like him.)
imaytag Oh man, what would the rings look like from the 'surface' of the planet I wonder. Skimming along in a spaceship about halfway between the equator and the pole.
I am so grateful to have access to such a high quality for video. The free access to the knowledge is one of the most important thing in the world. And each of your Videos is a great treasure! Many Thanks for all these videos.
I totally understand the feeling of seeing Saturn through a telescope. I remember chasing it through a friend's Dobson (those cannon style telescopes). It was hard to track, because it moved through the field of view in about 30 seconds. But when I saw Saturn I couldn't believe it was real. It was just so weird seeing the rings (and even being able to look through them, because at the time the were very tilted)
I too became hooked on astronomy thanks to saturn, when I was 8 years old I viewed Saturn through a very large telescope a person had set up in a grocery store parking lot. Also this was the same year hale bopp had passed through our skies and I will never forget these two experiences even if I tried to and hope that I never will...
The sci-fi novel "Midnight At the Well of Souls" by Jack L. Chalker and published in 1977 concerns a planet that has a hexagon (albeit much smaller) at its north pole. A true mind blower that I've not seen mentioned anywhere else.
when you talked about how most of people fall in love with astronomy when they see saturn i can't believe it and i almost cried because i remember the first time i saw saturn and fall in love with astronomy it's was a magical moment
honestly, your videos inspire me to fix my life xD I mean they are so well structured, I especially love the summation at the end...if I would work in general like this, I'd be going places.
Best episode yet. I loved the subjective portion with Phil's personal appreciation of Saturn; it's a very Crash Course-ian spin on education, and makes learning more meaningful. Thanks, guys!
I like how just about everything about Saturn has a mythological name: Prometheus, Titan, Saturn (Roman version of Chronos I believe)... I think there may be a moon named Rhea but don't quote me on that
