Earth flies between the sun and Saturn on August 26-27, 2023, inserting the ringed planet reverse the sun – at opposition – in our sky.
Saturn at opposition
When and the place to look at in 2023: Round its August 26-27 opposition, Saturn is rising within the east at sundown and is seen all night time. Afterward, for the remainder of 2023 Saturn will stay seen within the night sky. It’ll lastly disappear within the sundown glare by mid-February 2024.
Date and time of opposition: 8 UTC on August 27, 2023 (3 a.m. CDT).
Brightness at opposition: At opposition, the ringed planet shines at its brightest for 2023, at magnitude 0.4.
Distance from Earth at opposition: Round opposition, Saturn is at its shortest distance from Earth for 2023, at 73 light-minutes (about 8.8 astronomical units).
Constellation at opposition: Aquarius the Water Bearer.
Disk measurement at opposition: Saturn’s disk measurement is largest round opposition. At its largest, Saturn will seem 19 arcseconds throughout.
Ring tilt at opposition: At opposition, Saturn’s rings are tilted by 8.1 degrees, relative to earthly viewers. The rings will span 44.2 arcseconds.
Word: Opposition marks the center of the very best time of the 12 months to see an outer planet. Regardless that you may’t see Saturn’s rings via binoculars, it’ll seem via binoculars as a brilliant oval-shaped disk. However any small yard telescope will present the rings.
For exact sun and Saturn rising occasions at your location:
Old Farmer’s Almanac (U.S. and Canada)
timeanddate.com (worldwide).
Stellarium-Web (on-line planetarium program)
August 29 and 30 evenings: Moon close to Saturn
How typically is Saturn at opposition?
As a matter of truth, Saturn involves opposition almost each earthly 12 months. A 12 months is the size of time Earth takes to journey as soon as across the sun. However Saturn’s orbit across the sun takes 29.4 Earth-years. So annually now we have to journey barely farther in orbit to catch as much as, and go, Saturn once more. Thus Saturn oppositions are roughly 378 days aside and Saturn’s opposition comes about two weeks later annually.
2022 Saturn opposition: August 14
2023 Saturn opposition: August 27
2024 Saturn opposition: September 8
2025 Saturn opposition: September 25
Saturn occasions in 2022 and early 2023
February 16, 2023: Saturn in conjunction with the sun
June 17, 2023: Saturn enters retrograde motion
August 27, 2023: Saturn at opposition
November 4, 2023: Saturn ends retrograde movement
View from above the solar system, August 2023
Saturn is a world of rings and moons
Saturn is the sixth planet outward from the sun. Folks in historic occasions noticed it as a golden “star” that moved among the many fastened stars: a wanderer. That’s as a result of, it wasn’t till astronomers started utilizing telescopes within the seventeenth century once they noticed its rings.
Then, within the Fifties, astronomers spoke of Saturn as having three rings. However spacecraft within the later a part of the twentieth century confirmed vastly extra element. In reality, they revealed that Saturn has 1000’s of skinny, finely detailed rings product of tiny chunks of ice. Additionally, Saturn has at the very least 83 moons with confirmed orbits. But solely 63 of Saturn’s moons have names, with the opposite 20 moons ready affirmation. Moreover, solely 13 of them have diameters bigger than 30 miles (about 50 kilometers).
Actually, Saturn is really a wondrous world of rings and moons. Clearly, it’s everybody’s favourite celestial object to stare upon via a small telescope. So if there’s a public astronomy night time close to you this month … go!
Extra nice photos of Saturn
Backside line: Saturn’s 2023 opposition comes on August 26-27, when Earth will sweep between the sun and Saturn, inserting the ringed planet reverse the sun in our sky. Saturn will probably be in a superb place to watch all through August, September and October 2023.
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Saturn’s opposition in 2023: Fun and easy things to see
