Saturday, September 7, 2024

Saturn at Opposition (overnight)

On Saturday night, September 7 in the Americas, Saturn will reach opposition. You can see the creamy-yellow dot of the ringed planet all night long,
shining to the east of the rather faint stars of Aquarius. Planets at opposition rise at sunset and set at sunrise because Earth is positioned between them and the sun. Tonight, Saturn will be at a distance of 804.7 million miles, 1.295 billion km, or 72 light-minutes from Earth. It will
shine at magnitude of 0.57, its brightest for 2024. While planets always look their brightest at opposition, Saturn's brilliance will be boosted by the Seeliger effect - backscattered sunlight from its rings. In a telescope Saturn's disk and rings will show maximum apparent diameters of 19
arc-seconds and 44 arc-seconds, respectively. Saturn's rings will be
aligning more edge-on to Earth every month until March, 2025. Opposition is also the optimal time to view Saturn's moons through a backyard telescope in
a dark sky. Owners of large telescopes can catch the transits of the larger Saturnian moons and their black shadows across the planet's globe.

(Data Courtesy of Starry Night)
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