Saturn’s Thin Blue Line

I remember when I first looked through a telescope. I was four or five years old, and my dad bought a real el-cheapo department store 'scope (A Tasco 40 mm for those keeping score at home). He set it up in the driveway, and pointed it at a star in the sky. When I looked through it, I saw it wasn't a star, it was Saturn. I still remember the amazement I felt (though the memory has dimmed with time, so I wonder now if the memory has been gilded with the emotions I have felt during the many times I have seen Saturn since). For a first-timer, nothing beats Saturn through a telescope. Nothing. It is a perfect jewel, a wonder floating in a sea of black. The rings are so obvious, and so geometrically wonderful. Whenever I show someone Saturn for the first time, they universally gasp in ...