Saturn, its rings and its moons will be paying a "close" visit to Earth Tuesday night.
Saturn is at "opposition" that day, meaning the planet and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, according to NASA. That also means the ringed planet is as close to the Earth as it gets all year long.
You can recognize Saturn because it’s in your southeastern sky at dusk and nightfall, EarthSky said.
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This annotated image of Mars shows features of the planet that were visible in summer 2018 despite a global dust storm. During the time of observation it was spring in Mars’ southern hemisphere, where a dust storm erupted and ballooned into a global event that is blanketing the entire planet. Even so, several distinctive features can be identified. The large oval area at the lower right is the bright Hellas Basin. About 2200 kilometers across and nearly eight kilometers deep, it was formed about four billion years ago by an asteroid impact. Many global dust storms originate in this region. The orange area in the upper centre of the image is Arabia Terra, a vast upland region in northern Mars. The landscape is densely cratered and heavily eroded, indicating that it could be among the oldest terrains on the planet. South of Arabia Terra, running east to west along the equator, are the long dark features known as Sinus Sabaeus and Sinus Meridiani. These regions are covered by dark bedrock and fine-grained sand deposits ground down from ancient lava flows and other volcanic features. These sand grains are coarser and less reflective than the fine dust that gives the brighter regions of Mars their rusty appearance. Because it is autumn in the northern hemisphere, a bright blanket of clouds covers the north polar region. Clouds also can be seen over the southern polar cap. The two small moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, appear in the lower half of the image.
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It will be visible with the naked eye all night long, rising in the East around sunset and slowly making its way across the sky before setting in the West around sunrise, according to AccuWeather.
You'll need a telescope to see the planet's famous rings. But “if you have never spotted Saturn's rings, now is your chance,” AccuWeather astronomy blogger Dave Samuhel said.
Some of Saturn's moons might also be visible with a telescope, NASA said. If you see its moons, Titan will be the brightest.
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This composite image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 6 June 2018, shows the ringed planet Saturn with six of its 62 known moons. With a diameter of 1123 kilometers, Dione is the fourth-largest of Saturn’s moons and the largest of the siblings in this family portrait. The smallest satellite in this picture is the irregularly shaped Epimetheus, with a size of 143 x 108 x 98 kilometers. The image is a composite because the moons move during the Saturn exposures, and individual frames must be realigned to make a color portrait.
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According to Inverse.com, this is also the best time to photograph Saturn.
As for the weather forecast, cloud-free skies are expected on Tuesday night across much of the interior West, southern Plains and Northeast, leading to uninterrupted viewing, AccuWeather said.
Rain and clouds will result in poor viewing conditions for residents along the West Coast, in the Midwest and across the Southeast.
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| Abstract scientific background - planets, nebula and stars |
