Trout Lake Report: Closemouthed

It's windy, then calm. The weather is cool, and the hatches are impressive. But the fish are strangely silent.

Saturn, Mars, Antares (top to bottom)

You watch the planets align and decide to keep your mouth closed about the fact that you couldn't coax a single fish to open theirs.

Look Up Alert

All five bright planets will appear together in the morning sky from about January 20 to February 20, 2016. That hasn’t happened since 2005.

Read more.

Enceladus in Winter

A gorgeous photo of a special moon over Saturn's rings.

NASA's Cassini Mission to Saturn

November 30 · 

Water World: Saturn's moon Enceladus and the rings. Although both Enceladus and the ring particles are made up largely of water ice, they are very different. The small ring particles are too tiny to retain internal heat and have no way to get warm, so they are frozen and geologically dead. Enceladus, on the other hand, is subject to forces that heat its interior to this very day. This results in its famous south polar water jets--which are just visible here above the moon’s dark, southern limb--along with a sub-surface ocean. Details:http://go.nasa.gov/1l2KDpF

Looks a little like our world right now.

Zennnnnnnnnnnnn....

In case you still think you are the center of the universe.....

Here is Earth from 900 million miles away, from the vantage point of the rings of Saturn.

Image via the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004.

This image was acquired by Cassini on July 19, 2013. From Earthsky.

Heads up, Saturn Lovers

From that amazing site EarthSky. Seriously, check it out.

Golden Saturn as seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1980

The best time to see the planet Saturn in 2013 is now! Saturn will be out nearly all night for most of May. Why is Saturn so good to view this month? The reason is that we passed between Saturn and the sun in late April. At that time, Saturn was opposite the sun as seen from Earth. Now Earth has moved on slightly in its orbit, so that Saturn appears in our eastern sky as soon as darkness falls.

To find Saturn in 2013, first locate the Big Dipper in the northern sky. 

Let it guide you to the star Spica. Then look for Saturn near Spica.

Why There's No Fly Fishing On Saturn

Click on photo for full size image.

This massive storm, five times larger than any previously observed storm, has wrapped completely around the northern hemisphere of Saturn, covering 1.5 billion square miles, many times more than the surface of Earth.

Radio signals of lightning strikes record 10 strikes per second, but that's the maximum number per second the equipment is capable of recording, so there are likely many more strikes occurring.

I'm pretty sure I'd leave the float tube in the shed and stay home.