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American Morning

Interview With Jack Horkheimer

Aired January 01, 2004 - 08:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At midnight last night, many people were watching a beautiful ball in the sky, but not in Times Square. It's about 750 million miles, give or take, from there, or, for that matter, anywhere on Earth. The planet Saturn, closer to Earth last night than it has been in 30 years, close enough for its rings to be seen with a low powered home telescope.
There's another key factor in all of this called opposition, which we'll tell you a little bit about.

Joining us from Miami to educate on this is Santa Claus, Jack Horkheimer.

He is the executive director of the Miami Planetarium.

Is that a new year's hat, a Santa hat or combined?

JACK HORKHEIMER, DIRECTOR, MIAMI PLANETARIUM: Combined. This is a new year's hat. I kind of whipped it up just for this morning.

O'BRIEN: Yes, all right, so while everybody else was, you know, living it up doing whatever they do on New Year's Eve, you were in your back yard looking at Saturn.

What did you see and were you excited about it?

HORKHEIMER: Well, in the 80 degree Miami weather, it was straight overhead at midnight. It was just fantastic. And as you said, it is in opposition, which means it's directly opposite the sun and it will not be in opposition, which also means that it's closest and brightest, will not be in opposition again on New Year's Eve until the year 2680.

O'BRIEN: 2680.

HORKHEIMER: This is really...

O'BRIEN: So you can put that down on your calendar now, but don't count on seeing that one, right?

HORKHEIMER: Right. And the interesting thing about it is that this is really the start of the Saturn season, because if you go out tonight, even though Saturn will be 34,000 miles farther away, it will still be almost overhead at midnight. And the next three months are going to be great for Saturn viewing. So if you got a small telescope for Christmas, this is the time to use it. This is really the best you're going to see Saturn for another, almost a quarter of a century. O'BRIEN: All right, let's take a look once again at the images you were able to capture down there in Miami at your facility there, the Miami Planetarium.

HORKHEIMER: Right.

O'BRIEN: Now, you of course...

HORKHEIMER: And these were taken...

O'BRIEN: You guys have some pretty powerful telescopes there to get an image like that. If you had, if you got just a cheapy for Christmas, first of all, don't say that to the person who gave it to you, but if you have a cheap telescope, will you see anything like that?

HORKHEIMER: Yes, you will. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell a little story here. These pictures you're seeing were actually shot with an eight inch telescope, which is a relatively common telescope which you can buy in a lot of department stores. And even with a two or three inch telescope at about 100 power, you're going to see it almost as good as you're seeing it right here on your screen.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it's not the size of the scope always. It's how you use it. How are you going to find Saturn?

HORKHEIMER: All you have to do is go outside about two hours after sunset, look east. And if you look for Orion's stars, it'll be right between Orion...

O'BRIEN: It won't look like this, by the way. It won't look like this. You've done real well if you got that. I think you're the Hubble or something.

Go ahead.

So you find Orion and then do what?

HORKHEIMER: I think that's the Hubble.

Well, now find Orion, look to the left of Orion and you'll see a very bright light. And that is Saturn. It looks kind of yellowish. And just train a small telescope on it, I'd say around seven, eight, nine o'clock at night, and you'll see a really good view of it.

Now, at midnight for the next week, it won't be quite overhead, but almost overhead, and then you'll be able to watch it all night long, after midnight, as it slowly descends. And it will set in the west, just as the sun rises in the east.

In other words, since it's opposite the sun, it will be in the sky all the hours the sun is not.

O'BRIEN: Jack Horkheimer is the director of the Miami Planetarium.

And before we leave him, I'm going to give him an opportunity to give his custom sing out here.

Go ahead.

HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack Horkheimer, always a pleasure.

Happy New Year to you, sir.

HORKHEIMER: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: All right, and happy viewing.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 1, 2004 - 08:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At midnight last night, many people were watching a beautiful ball in the sky, but not in Times Square. It's about 750 million miles, give or take, from there, or, for that matter, anywhere on Earth. The planet Saturn, closer to Earth last night than it has been in 30 years, close enough for its rings to be seen with a low powered home telescope.
There's another key factor in all of this called opposition, which we'll tell you a little bit about.

Joining us from Miami to educate on this is Santa Claus, Jack Horkheimer.

He is the executive director of the Miami Planetarium.

Is that a new year's hat, a Santa hat or combined?

JACK HORKHEIMER, DIRECTOR, MIAMI PLANETARIUM: Combined. This is a new year's hat. I kind of whipped it up just for this morning.

O'BRIEN: Yes, all right, so while everybody else was, you know, living it up doing whatever they do on New Year's Eve, you were in your back yard looking at Saturn.

What did you see and were you excited about it?

HORKHEIMER: Well, in the 80 degree Miami weather, it was straight overhead at midnight. It was just fantastic. And as you said, it is in opposition, which means it's directly opposite the sun and it will not be in opposition, which also means that it's closest and brightest, will not be in opposition again on New Year's Eve until the year 2680.

O'BRIEN: 2680.

HORKHEIMER: This is really...

O'BRIEN: So you can put that down on your calendar now, but don't count on seeing that one, right?

HORKHEIMER: Right. And the interesting thing about it is that this is really the start of the Saturn season, because if you go out tonight, even though Saturn will be 34,000 miles farther away, it will still be almost overhead at midnight. And the next three months are going to be great for Saturn viewing. So if you got a small telescope for Christmas, this is the time to use it. This is really the best you're going to see Saturn for another, almost a quarter of a century. O'BRIEN: All right, let's take a look once again at the images you were able to capture down there in Miami at your facility there, the Miami Planetarium.

HORKHEIMER: Right.

O'BRIEN: Now, you of course...

HORKHEIMER: And these were taken...

O'BRIEN: You guys have some pretty powerful telescopes there to get an image like that. If you had, if you got just a cheapy for Christmas, first of all, don't say that to the person who gave it to you, but if you have a cheap telescope, will you see anything like that?

HORKHEIMER: Yes, you will. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell a little story here. These pictures you're seeing were actually shot with an eight inch telescope, which is a relatively common telescope which you can buy in a lot of department stores. And even with a two or three inch telescope at about 100 power, you're going to see it almost as good as you're seeing it right here on your screen.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it's not the size of the scope always. It's how you use it. How are you going to find Saturn?

HORKHEIMER: All you have to do is go outside about two hours after sunset, look east. And if you look for Orion's stars, it'll be right between Orion...

O'BRIEN: It won't look like this, by the way. It won't look like this. You've done real well if you got that. I think you're the Hubble or something.

Go ahead.

So you find Orion and then do what?

HORKHEIMER: I think that's the Hubble.

Well, now find Orion, look to the left of Orion and you'll see a very bright light. And that is Saturn. It looks kind of yellowish. And just train a small telescope on it, I'd say around seven, eight, nine o'clock at night, and you'll see a really good view of it.

Now, at midnight for the next week, it won't be quite overhead, but almost overhead, and then you'll be able to watch it all night long, after midnight, as it slowly descends. And it will set in the west, just as the sun rises in the east.

In other words, since it's opposite the sun, it will be in the sky all the hours the sun is not.

O'BRIEN: Jack Horkheimer is the director of the Miami Planetarium.

And before we leave him, I'm going to give him an opportunity to give his custom sing out here.

Go ahead.

HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack Horkheimer, always a pleasure.

Happy New Year to you, sir.

HORKHEIMER: My pleasure.

O'BRIEN: All right, and happy viewing.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com