Saturn opposition 2023: what it is, when and how you can see it

In addition to having two full moons and a meteor shower, the month of August has one more astronomical event in store. Saturn , the sixth planet in the solar system, will enter opposition and can be seen better than ever.

Astronomical opposition is the moment in which a planet forms an angle of 180° with respect to the Sun. The phenomenon occurs when the orbit of the stellar body is positioned at the closest poi Phone Number List nt to the Earth. In the case of Saturn, on August 27 it will align with us and will present more brightness and size than any other time in the year. The show will begin at the first moment of sunset and will find its best exposure at midnight.

Saturn has the most outstanding ring system in the entire solar system. During the opposition, the rings will shine brighter because the rock and ice fragments that make them up will be free of their own shadows. They will not fade each other. The phenomenon of light increase, exclusive to the planet's ring system, is a consequence of the Seeliger optical effect postulated in 1887 . This talks about the absorption and scattering of light on rocky surfaces in the interstellar medium.

The near-infrared photo of Saturn is the most recent capture by James Webb.
Saturn like you've never seen it before: NASA publishes new photos of James Webb
The space agency has released the most recent images of Saturn taken by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
How to see the Saturn Opposition 2023
To identify Saturn in opposition, users should consider a few key points. First, all the planets are located on an imaginary line that crosses the sky known as the ecliptic. The curve is the same path that the Sun takes, from east to west, during the day. On August 27, Saturn's journey will begin exactly on the opposite side of where the star is hidden .

Knowing how to identify the planet from the rest of the stars is essential. To differentiate them, those interested should pay attention to the brightness they emit. The brightness of the stars fluctuates (or flickers) due to the phenomenon of atmospheric interference and they never move during a night. They are scattered throughout the sky forming constellations. The brightness of the planets, on the other hand, is constant and moves only along the ecliptic.



Oppositions only occur with planets and asteroids that are further from the Sun than Earth. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are some examples. They occur once a year and are ideal times for amateur astronomers to observe and photograph.

The small dot is Enceladus and the rest is all the water in the form of vapor that it expelled.
Enceladus, Saturn's frozen moon, has just expelled a column of steam the size of Latin America
The discovery confirms that Enceladus is part of a water distribution system between the bodies of the Saturn system.
After the opposition of Saturn, all that remains is to enjoy the Blue Moon in August . This full moon will be a supermoon due to its proximity to Earth. The second full moon that appears in the same month is given the name blue . It is a coincidence of astronomical reading and not optical phenomenon. The next opposition will arrive on September 19 and Neptune is the protagonist planet. On November 3, it will be Jupiter's turn and Uranus on the 14th of the same month.

New readings about Saturn indicate that its bright rings will cease to exist in a few million years. The planet will lose most of the debris orbiting it and will only be left with a thin ring similar to that of Neptune.