The best time of the year to view Saturn is on Sunday when the planet will be in opposition
It happens every 378 days and this year, it happens to line up with some really great weather and viewing conditions.
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It’s the best time of the year to view Saturn - and that’s because on Sunday, the planet will be in opposition.
This happens when the Sun, Earth and Saturn all line up in their orbits and we can see the giant gaseous ringed planet really well.
It happens every 378 days and this year, it happens to line up with some really great weather and viewing conditions.
The ringed planet will be easily visible all night. It will rise in the east right after sunset and then set in the west at sunrise.
The best time might be closer to midnight, as it will be high in the sky. Saturn is seen with the unaided eye, but it will look more like a bright star.
Binoculars will help some, with those you’ll be able to see a solid bright disc, but in order to see the rings, you’ll need at least a small telescope.
The rings are currently titled at 3.3 degrees. That isn’t very much and is almost head on. In the spring, they actually will be head on and will look like they have temporarily disappeared. This happens every 15 years. Saturn reaches it’s equinoxes in orbit around the Sun, the Earth crosses it’s ring plane.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and during opposition, it will be 8.66 AU away. An AU, is an astronomical unit, or the distance from the sun to the Earth. This means that it’s over 8.5 times farther from the Earth, than we are from the sun. Looking at it another way, it’s also 72 light seconds away. Saturn moves very slowly around the sun, it almost takes 30 years to complete one orbit, but one day on the planet is only 10.7 hours long. The beautiful ringed planet also has a tilt, which is similar to Earth’s and this results in seasons.
Be sure to take a look this week, or anytime from now through the end of the year. It will remain visible at night. Happy stargazing
