“Saturn at its Closest, Biggest and Brightest for the Entire Year this Week!”

Scheduled air date: 2006 Jan 23-29

The ringed planet Saturn is at opposition—directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth—on Friday, January 27. Because it is at opposition, Saturn will be closer to the Earth, and therefore appear larger and brighter, than it will for the rest of the year! Saturn will also rise at sunset and set at sunrise.
(Shown about 90 minutes after sunset for mid-Northern latitudes. Inset represents a telescopic view of Saturn.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky6 Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.