See Saturn's rings at their finest
Saturn, the ringed wonder, achieved opposition this year on Aug. 14 at 17h02m Universal Time (UT). With its rings currently 14° open, now is the perfect time to target the solar system's showpiece gas giant. It will be another five years before Saturn’s rings are again open enough (13°) to fully reveal all their components.
Next year’s opposition (Aug. 27 at 8h20m UT) is also favorable, but the rings will open only 9° to our line of sight. That’s just narrow enough to limit the clarity of visual details, especially in the outermost ring, Ring A. This year’s opposition, then, marks the denouement of the northern face of Saturn’s rings. After this apparition, Saturn’s rings will gradually narrow until they turn edgewise in 2025; we will not see them open substantially again until 2027.
At opposition, Earth moves between Saturn and the Sun. With the ringed world rising as the Sun sets, this event marks when the planet is at its closest and brightest for the year. If you can’t make the actual date of opposition, don’t worry. For several nights leading up to and following that event, observers will still be able to view and image the finest details, not only in Saturn’s rings, but on the planet as well.
While Saturn virtually turns into “Super-Saturn” at opposition, the great gulf between it and Earth (nearly 824 million miles [1.33 billion kilometers], or 8.86 times the average Earth-Sun distance) causes it to shine modestly. Read More...
