# Per "Space Reporter" Saturn will be directly between Earth and the Sun this weekend **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769 "2014-05-06T01:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/1 "2014-05-06T01:46:14Z")
According to the usually reputable [Space Reporter](http://thespacereporter.com/2014/05/saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/), Saturn will be directly between Earth and the Sun this weekend. Bwuh? > [@](#): > > At 8.9 astronomical units away, Saturn will be directly between the Earth and Sun on Saturday. Saturn will accompany Jupiter and Mars, which have already been observable for weeks. This should be interesting… ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/2 "2014-05-06T01:51:33Z")
The fun part for bad reporting like this is to try and figure out what the author meant. I really hope she meant “between X and Y _as they appear in the night sky_”, but I have no idea what X and Y would be. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/3 "2014-05-06T01:51:47Z")
> [@](#): > > At 8.9 astronomical units away, Saturn will be directly between the Earth and Sun on Saturday. Someone doesn’t know what an AU is. ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/4 "2014-05-06T01:53:36Z")
😕 Someone made a typo. heh ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/5 "2014-05-06T01:55:40Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > The fun part for bad reporting like this is to try and figure out what the author meant. I really hope she meant “between X and Y _as they appear in the night sky_”, but I have no idea what X and Y would be. WAG: They meant the Earth would be between the sun and Saturn (and Mars apparently) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/6 "2014-05-06T01:57:06Z")
Maybe **karol** was right. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/7 "2014-05-06T01:58:16Z")
> [@BrianJ](#): > > 😕 > > Someone made a typo. heh Someone was unclear on the concept. Hardly a typo. Thsi is a typo. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/8 "2014-05-06T07:09:00Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Thsi is a typo. You take that back! _MY MOTHER WAS A SAINT!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/9 "2014-05-06T07:25:40Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Maybe **karol** was right. I think his claim was that Saturn and the Sun are both between the Earth and itself. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/10 "2014-05-06T07:54:46Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/11 "2014-05-06T10:04:36Z")
Journalists can often find the details a bit perplexing. One of the papers here was getting very excited about the occultation next week, announcing that the moon would be obscured as Saturn passed in front of it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/12 "2014-05-06T10:36:40Z")
> [@BrianJ](#): > > WAG: They meant the Earth would be between the sun and Saturn (and Mars apparently) I think this is right, looking at [http://www.solarsystemscope.com/](http://www.solarsystemscope.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/13 "2014-05-06T14:17:15Z")
What part of this are you not getting? Clearly the core concept Lana! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/14 "2014-05-06T14:21:30Z")
Reminds me of the deliberately and hilariously wrong definitions in Tom Weller’s underappreciated (and out-of-print) _Science Made Stupid_: > [@](#): > > An eclipse of the moon occurs when the sun passes between the earth and the moon. > > An eclipse of the sun occurs when the shadow of the earth falls on the sun. > > An eclipse of the earth occurs when you put your hands over your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/15 "2014-05-06T14:38:46Z")
> [@BrianJ](#): > > WAG: They meant the Earth would be between the sun and Saturn (and Mars apparently) So Saturn will be in eclipse! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/16 "2014-05-06T14:40:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Reminds me of the deliberately and hilariously wrong definitions in Tom Weller’s underappreciated (and out-of-print) _Science Made Stupid_: [This page has it](http://www.chrispennello.com/tweller/) (and _Cvltvre Made Stvpid_) for download by permission of the author. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/17 "2014-05-06T14:47:01Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > The fun part for bad reporting like this is to try and figure out what the author meant. I really hope she meant “between X and Y _as they appear in the night sky_”, but I have no idea what X and Y would be. I don’t think the sun usually appears in the night sky, so this should be a rare occurrence, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/18 "2014-05-06T15:05:16Z")
“Saturn, eh?” is an anagram of Sun, Earth. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/19 "2014-05-06T15:25:09Z")
[QUOTE=article] At 8.9 astronomical units away, Saturn will make it closest approach to Earth on Saturday. [/QUOTE] Looks like they fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769/20 "2014-05-06T15:50:59Z")
Saturn is always between the Earth and Sun… …in the dictionary! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/per-space-reporter-saturn-will-be-directly-between-earth-and-the-sun-this-weekend/687769.md?page=2)