If You Ever Wanted To See The Rings Of Saturn, This Is The Week They’re Brightest And Best

Saturn in 2019 from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures exquisite details of the ring system — ... [+]

 NASA, ESA, A. SIMON (GSFC), M.H. WONG (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY) AND THE OPAL TEAM

This Monday, Saturn will be the brightest it gets during 2020, and it will be visible all night long. 

Saturn is at “opposition” on Monday, July 20, 2020, an important date for amateur astronomers and planet-gazers because the planet will be well-positioned and shining brightly for the next few weeks and months. 

It’s a busy month for skywatching, with Jupiter’s opposition coming just before Saturn’s, along with a bright naked-eye comet, various missions to Mars, and plenty of other celestial highlights to find.

What is Saturn’s opposition?’

As with any of the Solar System’s outer planet’s, Saturn’s opposition occurs when Earth passes between it and the Sun on its own, faster, journey around the Sun.

As a consequence of that geometry, Saturn’s disk will be entirely illuminated, as seen from the Earth. So Saturn will look at its biggest and brightest and best for all of 2020. 

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/07/18/if-you-ever-wanted-to-see-the-rings-of-saturn-this-is-the-week-theyre-brightest-and-best/#349cc8b87645