Categories: ObservingSaturnSkywatching

Saturn Reaches Opposition on April 28

Saturn is one of the most striking objects to see through a telescope, and it is now at its brightest in the night sky as it reaches opposition from the Sun. This is when Earth stands mostly perfectly in line between Saturn and the Sun. It is when Saturn is brightest (at magnitude +0.3), closely approximating famous “first magnitude” stars like Betelgeuse. Also, it is when Saturn is out all night long.

Slooh Space Camera will broadcast a free, real-time feed of Saturn at opposition, with the giant planet’s rings impressively angled — its best in six years. Slooh’s coverage will begin on Sunday, April 28th, starting at 6:30 p.m. PDT / 9:30 p.m. EDT / 01:30 UTC (April 29th), with observatory feeds from their world-class observatory site in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. Viewers can watch live on their PC/Mac at Slooh.com, or by downloading the free Slooh iPad app in the iTunes store and touching the broadcast icon.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/