Saturn has rings

Walking past the physics building after my shift tonight, I noticed this weird dome thing on the roof with a warm glow coming from inside. Turns out it’s the campus observatory and they have public viewing hours on Tuesday nights. Who knew?

Saturn has rings

The volunteer up there - this grad student named Kevin who clearly lives for this stuff - spent twenty minutes adjusting this massive telescope just to show me Saturn. Like, actual Saturn. With rings you can see with your own eyes, not just in textbook photos.

Saturn’s rings up close. Unreal.

I’ve driven past this building probably a hundred times and never once thought about what was happening on the roof. Kevin says most students don’t even know it exists. He showed me Jupiter too, and this nebula thing that looked like cosmic cotton candy. My neck is sore from craning upward for an hour straight but totally worth it.

Apparently they’re open every Tuesday until December. Already planning to drag Carmen up there next week - she’s going to lose her mind over this.