串団子土星
９月２０日、長野県八ヶ岳のホテルで星空観賞会に参加した。場所はホテルから十分ぐらい歩いた野原であった。十七夜で満月に近く、月光が明るかった。雲は、かなり出ていたが、南方には夜空が広がっていた。参加者は野原に敷かれた敷物の上に仰向けに寝た。周りは黒い灌木が我々を取り巻いていた。
担当の女性が懐中電灯で夜空を照らし、カシオペア、白鳥、北極星、北斗七星、オリオンなどの方向を示し、説明をした。ほとんどの星座は雲に隠れて見えなかったが、オリオン座や冬の大三角形が見えた。２０分後、説明は終り、天体望遠鏡で土星を一人ずつ見た。私も土星を見たが、土星の輪っぱの面が見えず、土星は串差し団子のような形であった。中学校の時に観た、土星は輪っぱが、ほどよく傾き、輪っぱの面も見えて感動したが、今回は呆気なかった。担当者によると、今年は輪っぱの面は見えないという。15年周期で面が見えたり見えなかったりするとか。中学生の時見た土星は、丁度いい時期だったのだ。
Skeweredーdumpling Saturn
I attended a star-viewing event at a hotel in Yatsugatake,
Nagano Prefecture, on September 20. The viewing site was a grassy field about a
10-minute walk from the hotel. With over 90 percent of the moon illuminated, it
was almost as bright as a full moon. Clouds covered about one-third of the
night sky, but the southern sky was clear. Each star-gazer lay on their back on
a small mat on the grass, surrounded by eerie black bushes.
The woman in charge pointed her flashlight at various
constellations in the dark sky, such as Cassiopeia, Cygnus (the Swan), the
North Star, the Big Dipper, and Orion. Most of these constellations were
obscured by clouds, but Orion and the Winter Triangle were visible. After a
20-minute talk about the stars, each participant had the chance to view Saturn
through an astronomical telescope. I was disappointed because I couldn’t see
Saturn’s rings clearly; instead, I saw a skewered-dumpling shape. The Saturn I
saw in high school was unforgettable because the rings were tilted at a
favorable angle towards Earth. The woman explained that this year, the rings
appear edge-on and are nearly invisible due to their extreme thinness relative
to their diameter.
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