LINK – Solution to Puzzle – SoCS

Thank you all for your patience! Those who don’t get a hold, kindly read the previous post for better understanding.

Loge – Iapetus – Narvi – Kari

These are the satellites of the planet Saturn. Had you noticed the word ‘satellite’ that was present in the previous post, the ‘connecting link‘ would have been a cakewalk. The hint wasn’t planned to be placed, but a mere coincidence. The word ‘satellite’ didn’t lead me to my line of thoughts. It was just a traceback.

Why did I choose Saturn?

I tried to frame a meaningful acrostic for LINK but couldn’t come up with any (without much planning; that’s a condition for the SoCS prompt). I started the previous post with technical jargon, which included uplinks and downlinks. That gave me the thought of space, and I got inspiration from a recent news article of planets visible to the naked eye.

The idea of planets triggered another memory, again a news article in the recent past, that Saturn overtook Jupiter as the planet with the most number of moons. I can hear a few of your mind-voices. Yes, I read quite lots of news.

When Saturn has 82 moons, won’t I get at least one satellite starting with each of the letters in LINK? This was the thought. I browsed, and Saturn didn’t fail my expectations. So, that’s the backstory.

Those who are interested to know a few facts on the articles I specified and significant space events that are to occur this year, continue reading.

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Years of the discovery of LINK:

• Loge – 2006
• Iapetus – 1671
• Narvi – 2003
• Kari – 2006

Iapetus is the third-largest natural satellite of Saturn, after Titan and Rhea.

Saturn Overtakes Jupiter:

In October 2019, Saturn overtook Jupiter in the record of holding the most number of known moons in the solar system, when a group of scientists discovered 20 new moons orbiting the ringed planet. Jupiter fell back in line, with a shortage of 3 natural satellites.

These 20 satellites are believed to be broken up remnants of at least three larger bodies. Among these, 17  moons orbit in a retrograde direction and the other 3 in a prograde direction, i.e., the same direction as Saturn rotates. One of the retrograde moons is the farthest known satellite of Saturn.

Planets visible to naked-eyes:

Most of us would have spotted Venus and Jupiter with naked eyes. Nature has given a chance to humans to witness a marvel, to see 5 planets and a comet named ‘NEOWISE’ with the naked eyes, with a bonus sight of the crescent moon later next week.

From Sunday, July 19, 2020, and all next week, the following planets will be visible in our night sky.

• Mercury (morning sky)
• Venus (morning sky)
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn

The planets aren’t aligning in any special way, but are travelling along a path in the Earth’s sky called ‘Elliptic’. This path mirrors the plane of the solar system. All planets appear at the same time in the sky, a couple of times a decade, and this occurrence is the first in this decade.

Image Source – Flickr; This image is from February 8, 2016. It’s by Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona.

Last time, many people around the world witnessed the moon sweeping by all five visible (naked-eye) planets from late January until February 7, 2016. Prior to this, the occurrence happened in 2005.

This is a visual feast for sky-watchers and star-gazers. Let’s hope for a dark and clear sky. Finally, we get a chance to sing “Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky” as an adult. Don’t miss it!

Image Source: earthsky.org; As seen from the N. Hemisphere, the 5 planets arc across the southern sky, shortly before dawn.

To know about how to spot the location of planets and the best time to identify them, follow the link in the reference section.

It seems you can even photograph these events with a decent SLR or DSLR camera and lens, without a telescope. The details are specified in the home guide to the stars, planets, and a comet. For those interested in astrophotography, there’s an online workshop organized by Mysore Astronomical Society, but it’s over. However, there’s a link at the end of this form to join a WhatsApp group to know further details, which you may make use of and give a try.

Outer Planet:

An outer planet, Neptune, can be seen as a pale blue dot in a very dark night sky with naked eyes, on September 11, 2020, when the planet will be at its biggest and brightest.

Meteor Shower:

Delta Aquariids, one of the longest-running meteor showers is to happen from July 12 through August 23, peaking in the early hours of July 29. About 20 shooting stars per hour will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius, and an hour or two before the dawn is the best time to look.

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Bloggers who guessed it right:

➟ Those who found it is a satellite, but not the name of the planet:

• Era – The Hidden Soul
• Pop In Nutrients
• Harsh – Cryptic’s World

To everyone who tried, thanks a lot for your enthusiastic participation!

Cheers!

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References:

• News article on the planet with the most moons, Saturn.
• News article on planets and a comet visible to naked-eyes; bonus – meteor shower.
• Here’s how you can see 5 bright planets in the night sky.
• Your home guide to the stars, planets, and a comet.
• When will all 5 planets appear simultaneously?