Saturn has been visible to stargazers most of the year in the wee hours of the morning. But in August, the planet will be visible all night long as long as it is not cloudy.
Launched from the official site UPI on Monday (2/8), Saturn will officially reach opposition, meaning it will appear opposite the sun from Earth’s perspective. Saturn is in opposition once every year.
Around the same time of opposition, Saturn will make its closest approach to Earth. Near is a relative term because more than 800 million miles will still separate the two planets.
Saturn will be easily visible in the sky as it rises in the southeast around sunset, crosses the southern sky throughout the night, and finally sets in the southwest around sunrise.
Even though the opposition occurs on Monday, space observers will have a beautiful view of Saturn throughout the moon. This means people can make plans to search for planets at times that are most convenient for them. Especially when AccuWeather meteorologists predict cloud-free conditions.
Since the opposition is around the time when the planet is closest to Earth, it presents a golden opportunity to observe Saturn through the eyepiece of a telescope. Saturn is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, making it an easy target to spot with a telescope, especially for first-timers.
To see Saturn’s rings, EarthSky said that a telescope was needed that could magnify the object at least 25 times. But EarthSky recommends using a more powerful telescope that can magnify the object at least 50 times to see more detail.
It is known that a number of astronomical phenomena will occur in August 2021. These include the superior conjunction of Mercury (August 1), the Moon apogee (August 2), the Moon-Pollux conjunction (August 7) and the new Moon phase (August 8).
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