Physics students take part in viewing of rare ‘ringless Saturn’

Galileo first viewed Saturn's signature rings in 1610, describing them then as the planet's ears. But when he attempted to view them again in 1612, the rings were gone.

"Has Saturn swallowed its children?" the famous astronomer wondered, alluding to the Roman god with the same name who devoured his child in fear he would overthrow him one day.

What Galileo didn't know was that every 13 to 15 years, Saturn's rings align perfectly with our line of sight from Earth, making them seemingly "disappear" - a phenomenon known as "ring plane crossing." On a clear moonlit evening Wednesday, Assistant Professor of Physics Jason Ezell joined a group of professors and students in the Academic Circle with three telescopes - including a Dobson telescope roughly 10 feet in length - to see Saturn from the same rare angle Galileo saw it 513 years earlier.

"Thinking back to his time, everybody was telling Galileo he was just seeing things when he started reporting on the moons of Jupiter, sunspots and Saturn's rings - which he called 'ears' the first time he saw them," Ezell said. "Then one day, they're no longer there. It really bedeviled him, and he vowed to never look at Saturn again."

When rare celestial events happen, Ezell can often be found on campus with a group of students and lenses pointed to the skies. Most recently - in April of 2024 - he hosted a gathering of more than 300 Campbell students for the big solar eclipse. He filled the stands at Barker-Lane Stadium seven years earlier for another eclipse that he televised on the giant scoreboard.

Junior biology pre-med major Noah Crews said there's great educational value in attending viewings with professors and fellow students, because they represent all that is great about physics.

"I believe physics is the best way to understand our universe," Crews said. "Physics is found in chemistry and in biology, and if you want to understand how it all works, you have to see it all through physics. Having events like this is a great way to showcase the program. You get to look up at the stars and see a ringless Saturn … and then you can learn why it's happening."

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