Recent Astronomy Articles at Cosmic Pursuits

The planet Saturn reaches opposition on May 22, 2015. It rises as the Sun sets and makes its closest approach to Earth this year. The planet is as bright as it’s been in eight years, with rings dramatically tilted towards our point of view. This is your best chance in many years to see this beautiful planet in a telescope and share a view of it with others.

Saturn lies well south of the celestial equator this observing season near the border between the constellations Libra and Scorpius in the southeastern sky (as seen from the northern hemisphere) and the eastern sky (as seen from the southern hemisphere). At magnitude 0.0 in late May and early June, Saturn is the brightest object in that part of the sky. It outshines even the brilliant red-orange star Antares to the east. By 10 p.m., you can see the planet low over the horizon, nestled near the three bright stars in the head of Scorpius. You can watch the planet’s motion relative to these stars from night to night over the next few months. It’s been moving ‘in retrograde’ a little westward each day, over and above its daily westward motion. It resumes its normal eastward motion relative to the background stars on August 2 [Read more…] about Saturn at Opposition 2015