Saturn and Its Rings CBeebies Stargazing

Soon, starlight will scatter through the dark.

So let's all look up, through the window, at Stargazing Park.

Hello, stargazers.

Well, it's a little bit windy outside here.

So we're looking up through the window tonight.

Yesterday evening, we discovered how stars are made,

with lots and lots and lots of dust.

-And any dust left over makes... ALL:

-Planets!

I wonder if we'll spot a planet tonight.

-All we need to do is... ALL:

-Look up.

MUSIC: Stargazing by Barrie Bignold

# When the night falls

# Maggie helps us see wonders of the stars above us all

# Turn the lights low, grab a cosy rug

# Wrap up warm and snug, here we go

# We're going stargazing

# Gaze at stars, shining bright

# We're going stargazing

# Spot a zooming satellite

# We're going stargazing

# Glimpse the moon and the planets above

# We're going stargazing

# So just look up

# Look up, look up. #

Oh, br-r-r! It's cold out there.

Wow, you guys are stargazing already.

-ALL:

-Hi, Maggie.

-Hi, stargazers.

We're really hoping to spot a planet.

Have you seen anything through the window at all?

I can't see anything.

It's cloudy.

If it wasn't cloudy tonight, Maggie, would we be able to see a planet?

Sadly not, Chris. We're on the wrong part of the Earth

to see any planets in the night sky tonight.

But I do have this.

Can anyone tell me what this is?

-Is it a planet, Maggie?

-It is.

This is the planet Venus. How does it look?

It looks like a bright star.

It does look just like a bright star.

Yes, Venus is really bright, because it has lots of cloud round it

to reflect the sunlight, isn't that right, Maggie?

That's right, Chris. And I saw Venus early this morning,

as the sun rose over Stargazing Park.

My goodness, so you can go stargazing in the morning,

as well as the evening.

Early in the morning, when you get out of bed, look for stars

and planets shining over your head.

I wonder who else is looking up at the night sky.

It's Keith Fit.

Up, down. Oh, well done, stargazers. Yaway, bairns, Keith Fit here.

I'm with my Stargazer friends and we've been doing some exercises,

-haven't we?

-Yeah.

-With our binoculars.

Now, we know it's a given, I've been studying the stars

and the planets for over 20 years, so I know what I'm talking about.

All reet, let's get down to work and see what we can see.

Whoa, man! That's massive.

I think it's going to hit me on the heed.

It's the moon!

Eh? What? Oh, of course. It's the moon.

TWIT-TWOO

Now we've been finding out about a planet, which one was that?

-Saturn.

-That's right, Saturn.

Come back and join us later, Stargazing fans.

We'll tell you all about Saturn and what we've discovered.

See you later, Keith.

We can't see Saturn out there tonight,

but does anyone know what Saturn looks like?

-It's yellow.

-It has rings.

If you look at Saturn with just your eye, it looks like a bright yellow

star, but if you look at it through a telescope, it looks like this...

It's beautiful. You can see the rings clearly.

Maggie, what are Saturn's rings made of?

That's a very good question, Elsa.

You whizz down to Earth and I'm going to fly off into space.

Stargazers, here's Saturn far, far away in space.

-Can you see the rings?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-What do they look like?

-They look like giant Hula Hoops.

OK, now imagine you're on a spacecraft, travelling

through space, getting closer and closer and closer to Saturn.

What do the rings look like now?

They look like little bits.

That's right, Saturn's rings aren't actually solid.

So Saturn hasn't got a giant Hula Hoop round it after all.

I'm afraid not, Chris.

Saturn's rings are actually made out of lots and lots

-and lots of lumps of. ..

-ALL:

-Ice!

Let's dim the lights.

Holly, can you get your torch and shine it onto the ice?

What does it look like?

It looks really, really bright.

That's right. Thanks very much, Holly.

You can turn your torch off now.

So what we want to do is make some icy rings around Saturn.

So, everybody, grab some ice and make a ring around Saturn.

Oh, well done.

Oh, that's looking good. So there's Saturn in the middle.

Oh, have you got some?

-I think we're nearly there, aren't we, Maggie?

-That looks great.

So now what I want to do is put Saturn

and its rings in the darkness of space.

And we need to get Saturn spinning.

-Off she spins.

-And now you guys are going to be the sunlight

hitting the icy rings of Saturn.

Go, sunlight!

Oh, wow, look at that.

The beautiful rings around Saturn

are actually made up of lots and lots of bits of ice.

And the reason why we can see them so clearly through a telescope

is because they reflect the sun's light so brilliantly.

What a magnificent sight.

Let's find out what Keith Fit discovered about the beautiful

planet Saturn.

Three! Two! One!

-ALL:

-Blast off!

Hey, wait for me!

Hang on a minute, I just slipped a bit.

Oh, whoa, whoa! Oh, well done, stargazers.

I was just, you know,

checking that no-one was left behind.

Whoa! What's that over there?

That's the rings of Saturn.

They're made out of loads of ice.

Some bits are tiny.

And some bits are ginormous.

How are we going to get past them?

WHISTLE BLOWS

Oh, champion! Good thinking.

Good, good. Let's go!

Whoa! Well, stargazers, we've done it.

We've landed on the planet Saturn.

Come on, let's go and take a look around.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Oh, I tell you what, it's very bubbly.

Saturn isn't solid like the Earth, it's made of gas.

And it's very windy too.

Oh, you're reet there, it is very windy! Whoa!

-THEY LAUGH

-Whoa!

Although, it's quite nice to feel the wind blowing

through your hair, bairns.

Now let's get down to business, just how big is Saturn?

-ALL:

-Massive!

That's reet, it's massive.

Let's do a little experiment to show you how massive it is.

First, I need the planet Earth.

OK, can you throw me the planet Earth, please?

Oh!

THEY LAUGH

Ha-ha! Look how small planet Earth is, compared to Saturn!

Let's see how many planet Earths can fit across Saturn.

OK, stargazers, can we hold Saturn up?

All reet, off we go. Oh, whoa, oh!

-ALL:

-You can do it, Keith!

OK, everyone, get ready to count. Here we go!

-ALL:

-One! Two! Three! Four! Five!

Six! Seven! Eight! Nine!

Aw! And that's how many planet Earths fit across Saturn, nine.

Oh, hang on a minute. I don't think I can find my way out. Hello?

Champion!

Well done, everyone. I had no idea that Saturn was so enormous.

Oh, hold on a second.

Is that big enough, Maggie?

That looks perfect, Chris.

Now I want us all to imagine that this is a giant bathtub,

full of water.

Now I've got a rocky planet here.

Can anyone guess which rocky planet this is?

-ALL:

-Earth!

-That's right.

-What happens if I put Earth into the giant bathtub?

-It sinks.

-It'll sink.

Let's try it out.

It sinks straight to the bottom.

Is it bath time for Saturn now?

Definitely.

-What's Saturn doing?

-ALL:

-It's floating.

That's right, Saturn is much, much bigger than the Earth,

but it's made of gas.

So when you put it in the huge bathtub of water, it floats.

Giant Saturn is a beautiful sight in the night sky.

Who else is looking up tonight?

It's Brian Cox.

For thousands of years, people have been gazing up

at the beautiful night sky and

dreaming of what it might be like to live in space, or walk on the moon.

When I was a little boy, those dreams became real

and astronauts walked on the moon.

..one giant leap for mankind.

The world watched on, amazed.

But now astronauts, like Tim Peake, live in space,

on the International Space Station, for weeks and weeks at a time.

This is helping us find out how people can live in space

on even longer missions and go further than we've ever been before.

We could even travel to Mars.

And, you never know, you might get to visit Mars someday.

Thanks, Brian.

Imagine going on a mission to Mars.

There are so many space missions finding out fascinating

things about the night sky.

Now, don't forget, you could be part of Tim's mission to the

International Space Station, just by going on the CBeebies website.

When you're there, print off his mission patch.

There it is.

Colour it in and ask someone to take a photograph of you wearing it.

You could even give him a big thumbs up to wish him

good luck on his mission.

We'd love to see you taking part,

so ask a grown-up to upload it to the CBeebies website.

You could wear your mission patch when you go stargazing.

Come on, let's get cosy underneath the stars for tonight's

Starlight Story.

# Starlight scattered through the dark

# Painting stories for us all

# Gather underneath the stars

# And hear their wonders told

# Looking up into the dark

# The night is yours and it is mine

# Looking up into the dark

# The dark upon us all

# Upon us all the stars will shine

# Upon us all the stars...

# ..will shine. #

Everybody, look up there.

-ALL:

-Auriga, the charioteer.

Auriga, the charioteer, wished to have a bath.

He towed his tub to planet Earth and filled it from the sea.

But the bathtub looked far too cold, so he took it somewhere sunny.

Auriga sped around the sun to warm the water up.

Now the bathtub looked just right, so in he jumped.

Rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub.

He splished and splashed and watched his rubber duckies float.

QUACK QUACK

Rub-a-dub-dub, Auriga relaxed, enjoying his peaceful, bubbly soak.

But then, in jumped Saturn and its icy rings,

turning the tub quite chilly.

Rub-a-dub-dub, Auriga giggled, at a bath time that had got quite silly.

Rub-a-dub-dub, he splished and splashed,

as the bits of ice shone bright.

The charioteer enjoyed his bath, and the planet, it floated all night.

We'll see you for more stargazing tomorrow.

And, don't forget, when you get up, look out of a window.

There may be a planet waiting to say, "Good morning."

-See you tomorrow. ALL:

-Bye!