Saturn

April and May are the best time of year for the northern hemisphere to see Saturn in the night sky , and Sunday night is the best night of all. That's because the ringed planet is at what astronomers call opposition, with Earth directly between it and the sun. That means the planet is at its brightest . Telescope users can get a particularly nice view of Saturn's rings. It will appear at nightfall in the eastern sky, and can be found by following the curve in the handle of the Big Dipper.

A monthly astronomy lecture at Baltimore's Space Telescope Science Institute on Tuesday will delve into Saturn's active outermost ring, known as its F Ring. The institute's Bonnie Meinke will deliver a lecture titled, "Saturn's Intricate F Ring and the Small Moons that Perturb It. " Data from NASA's Cassini mission, which has been exploring Saturn since 2004, has shown the ring to be constantly changing. Scientists believe that may be because of what are known as "shepherd" moons that orbit within or around rings like Saturn's.

The waxing crescent moon can help sky-watchers find Saturn and Mars in the sky the next few nights . Look to the southwest soon after dark, and the two planets will be to the left of the moon . Tuesday, the moon will rise between the two planets, and Wednesday, they will both be to its right. You may be able to discern Saturn's golden color and Mars' reddish tint ; the star Spica will nearby shine bright blue-white, according to EarthSky.org.

The Quadrantid meteors, less well known than other meteor showers but a decent show for the Northern Hemisphere, reached their narrow peak early Thursday morning. There is a chance more could be seen before dawn Friday. The shower actually peaked around 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and only lasts for a few hours, according to NASA. The shower is named for the former constellation from which it appears to radiate,  Quadrans Muralis. The constellation was not included in an  International Astronomical Union official list of constellations in 1922, as EarthSky.org explains.

A monthly astronomy lecture at Baltimore's Space Telescope Science Institute on Tuesday will delve into Saturn's active outermost ring, known as its F Ring. The institute's Bonnie Meinke will deliver a lecture titled, "Saturn's Intricate F Ring and the Small Moons that Perturb It. " Data from NASA's Cassini mission, which has been exploring Saturn since 2004, has shown the ring to be constantly changing. Scientists believe that may be because of what are known as "shepherd" moons that orbit within or around rings like Saturn's.

General Motors Co. is offering deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, according to a published report. The automaker will pay dealers $7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac left on their lot if the vehicle is moved to dealer-operated rental or service fleets, according to The Wall Street Journal. This allows the dealers to sell the cars and trucks to consumers at a discount, although the vehicles would be labeled as used because the dealer would technically be the first owner.

Ronald Johnston was standing in the showroom of Saturn of Glen Burnie yesterday morning leaning on the trunk of a shiny blue SL2 four-door and talking about General Motors' newest product when a service technician interrupted and pushed the car out the door.The $11,345 car was on its way to a new owner.A minute or two later, about 20 feet away, Lenore Fagen was eyeing a flashy red version of the new Saturn. The 22-year-old recreation therapist said the car had "gotten good reviews," and she liked its sporty appearance and the price: $13,650, before state taxes and tags.

LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- Saturn dealers and General Motors officials have their eyes on Lordstown, where a strike deadline looming today threatens to halt production of the GM showpiece."

General Motors shareholders should hope that Rick Hewitt becomes a trendsetter. The Union Lake sign painter recently bought a Saturn instead of another Honda."

General Motors launched Saturn into orbit last October, but the idea for creating the new car company began in a planning meeting in 1982.At that time, General Motors was relying on Japan and South Korea to set the pace for new-car design. The company had even formed a division called Geo to sell Japanese cars in its Chevrolet stores. But General Motors decided to go a step further in meeting the imports.Saturn managers were given a blank sheet to design not only a new car, but a new way of doing business.

When I was a salesman who had to see accounts in person, I was allowed to claim expenses from my first stop to my last. Nobody could claim the mileage expenses of getting to work, or getting home. For 10 years, getting to work in Northern Virginia would have added $61 a day, $305 a week, or in total $15,250 a year, not counting the miles from doing my work. Had I been able to use the method City Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector employs, I would have been driving a Mercedes instead of a Saturn.

The waxing crescent moon can help sky-watchers find Saturn and Mars in the sky the next few nights . Look to the southwest soon after dark, and the two planets will be to the left of the moon . Tuesday, the moon will rise between the two planets, and Wednesday, they will both be to its right. You may be able to discern Saturn's golden color and Mars' reddish tint ; the star Spica will nearby shine bright blue-white, according to EarthSky.org.

The driver of a Saturn sedan who had stopped in an eastbound lane of the Baltimore Beltway early Saturday was killed when a Ford pickup truck slammed into the vehicle, according to Maryland State Police. David Wilt, 33, of Pasadena, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Authorities said the crash occurred in the Anne Arundel County section of the highway, near Md. Route 2 in Glen Burnie. The eastbound lanes of the four-lane highway were closed for about five hours, until about 7:45 a.m. The accident occurred about 2:45 a.m. State police said Wilt either stopped or parked in the high-speed lane.

April and May are the best time of year for the northern hemisphere to see Saturn in the night sky , and Sunday night is the best night of all. That's because the ringed planet is at what astronomers call opposition, with Earth directly between it and the sun. That means the planet is at its brightest . Telescope users can get a particularly nice view of Saturn's rings. It will appear at nightfall in the eastern sky, and can be found by following the curve in the handle of the Big Dipper.

In 1977, NASA flung a message in a bottle toward the stars. After a 10 billion-mile journey that traversed the paths of Jupiter and Saturn, the hardy little Voyager I spacecraft approached the edge of the solar system last week, poised to carry humanity's greetings to the universe beyond. During its 33-year flight, Voyager I and its sister ship, Voyager II, captured the imagination of millions of Earthlings with the first detailed pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, along with stunning images of their mysterious moons and intricate rings.

S aturn reaches opposition at 8 p.m., rising in the east as the sun sets "opposite" in the west. Saturn is "only" about 790 million miles away, making it as big and bright as it gets this year. Look for a steady, pale yellow "star" in the southeast after 9 p.m. Better still, find a telescope. You will never forget your first view of Saturn's rings with your own eyes. NASA's Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, sending back spectacular photos of the planet and its moons.

A giant white spot hurtling around the equator of Saturn and recently photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope may be the result of a rare "burp" of gas from the ringed planet's interior into its frigid upper atmosphere, scientists said yesterday.The rapidly changing spot -- 6,000 miles wide, hundreds of miles thick and propelled by an eastbound jet stream at more than 1,000 miles per hour -- shows similarities to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a massive, hurricane-type storm that has raged uninterrupted for at least 300 years.

Here, after eight years, comes Saturn, General Motors'answer to Japanese subcompact cars. Most Americans would prefer to buy American, but in this most economical category, Detroit's efforts so far have not come close to its foreign competition.Therefore, Saturn has to be good. Design and workmanship will have to prove themselves. Dealer service, too, is on the line. It will have to be sensitive and sympathetic to customers.Mechanical problems or poor service could turn Saturn into another Corvair, Vega, or Chevette, putting GM out of small car manufacturing for years, to say nothing of the $3 billion it cost the company to produce the Saturn.

General Motors Co. is offering deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, according to a published report. The automaker will pay dealers $7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac left on their lot if the vehicle is moved to dealer-operated rental or service fleets, according to The Wall Street Journal. This allows the dealers to sell the cars and trucks to consumers at a discount, although the vehicles would be labeled as used because the dealer would technically be the first owner.