See Big and Bright Saturn at Opposition This Weekend

By Nancy Atkinson - April 13, 2012 at 9:55 PM UTC | Observing
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Now is the time to take a look at the planet Saturn, as the ringed planet will be at opposition this weekend, making its closest approach to Earth on April 15, 2012. Its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun, so get out those telescopes, binoculars and your imaging equipment! We want to see your photos! Efrain Morales from the

Jaicoa Observatory

took this image of Saturn and some of its moons on April 3.

The giant planet's rings are now optimally angled at over 13 degrees, revealing them better than they have appeared in the past five years. To see the rings of Saturn during opposition, in the northern hemisphere point your telescopes east to southeast at nightfall and south around midnight. For reference, Saturn will be near the bright star Spica, in the constellation Virgo. In the southern hemisphere, Saturn will be above the eastern horizon at 10pm local time, still near Spica.

If the skies aren't clear in your area, the Slooh Space Observatory will broadcast a free, real-time feed of Saturn at opposition. Their coverage will begin on Sunday, April 15th, starting at 6:30 p.m. PDT/9:30 p.m. EDT/01:30 UTC (April 16th). Slooh will provide two distinct observatory feeds -- one from a remote location in South Africa and the second from their world-class observatory site in Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. The broadcast can be accessed at

Slooh's homepage

or by visiting

Slooh's Google+ page

, where you will be able to see a panel of experts interact live via G+ Hangouts On Air.

The experts include Duncan Copp, producer of many astronomical documentaries, including "In the Shadow of the Moon"; Amanda Hendrix, Cassini's deputy project scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Bob Berman, author of numerous astronomy books and contributing editor and monthly columnist for Astronomy Magazine.

"In 40 years of observing the heavens and watching people's reactions to celestial glories, I've found that no object elicits more amazement and sheer wonder than Saturn. I am thrilled to be part of Slooh's live close-up visit to that magnificent planet," said Bob Berman.

Send us your images of Saturn by joining our

Flickr group

, or send us your images by

email

(this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain when and where you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com