Saturn is at opposition this week, making it a great time to look for the beautiful planet.
August’ssupermoonmight have part baby thePerseid meteor shower , but there is still plenty to see in the night sky this month .
With the Perseids search a fiddling lackluster , the skillful celestial event of the month may be Saturn reaching foeman on August 14 . That ’s when the ringed major planet will be at its tumid and brightest item this year , from our perspective , according toNASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory . That take a crap it a terrific time for stargazing or snapping pictures of the beautiful gas hulk .
Oppositions take place when the Earth sits directly in between an aim and the sun . On this night , the sun , Earth , and Saturn will form a phone line across the solar organization . When Earth is at opposition with a planet , that major planet typically looks bright and relatively prominent . Saturn will be at the tight point in its orbit relative to Earth for this year at a space of only 823 million Admiralty mile , perSpace.com .
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How to see Saturn at opposition
Because of the locating , the planet appears big in our sky than it has at any other point this yr . It also mean that Saturn ’s yellowish glow is up throughout the nighttime , rising in the south - southeasterly sky as the Sunday sets and setting as the sun rises . It ’ll reach its high point in the sky around 1 am local time , according toSpace.com .
Saturn , already a bright objective , will be luminous . It ’s a great night to view the major planet with the naked eye , a scope , or even binoculars . The latter two of those can help oneself you see the planet ’s famous ring .
Fortunately , if you neglect out on the night of opposition , Saturn will be about as bright in the night to come , and it ’ll be visible in the even sky for the rest of the year .
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on YouTube
