Week of September 21-27, 2025
We've been many months without a bright planet in the night sky, but that's all about to change! On the night of Sunday, Sept. 21, the ringed planet Saturn officially returns to the evening sky, and all planet watchers will surely rejoice.
On that night, Saturn reaches its opposition point, which readers of this column know means it will lie in the heavens opposite the sun, rising in the east-southeast at sunset and glistening all night long. Its opposition also means that the planet is closest to the Earth. This week, Saturn lies only about 794.5 million miles from us and, as a result, a telescope makes it appear larger than at any other time.
Spotting Saturn in the sky isn't too tough. Look for a bright "star" low in the eastern-southeastern sky just after dark. You should have little trouble finding it because it's the only bright object in that area. It will remain in our evening sky for a few months, drifting westward from fall to winter, but only during the next month or so can we expect the best view with a small telescope.
Stargazers often cite Saturn as their favorite planet because of its glorious ring system that we can easily see with even a small, low-power telescope. But if you've never experienced this magnificent sight, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit.
That's because as Saturn orbits the sun, it alternately displays to us different sides of the ring system. At their widest, the Saturnian rings appear "open" when the planet lies in the part of its orbit that corresponds to its summer or winter — that is, when its poles are tilted toward the sun and Earth. This last occurred in 2017, and Saturn appeared spectacular.
Right now, however, the ring system is tilted edge-on to our line of sight. Why is this notable? Because, while these grand rings are nearly 180,000 miles wide, they are less than a mile thick. And that means that, in their current orientation, they appear quite thin. In fact, the ring plane will lie almost directly along our line of sight during the second half of November, nearly causing the rings to vanish.
Don't worry, though; they'll be back. Over the next few years, we'll see them begin to "open up" once again, reaching their maximum exposure to us in 2032. In fact, by the end of this year, they should become more obvious through a small telescope.
In the meantime, skywatchers viewing with a small telescope will need to be satisfied by Saturn's relatively tiny and nearly featureless yellow disk, along with its largest and brightest moon, Titan, which frequently appears with even the smallest of instruments as a tiny "star" nearby, as do several of its smaller moons that orbit the planet. Check out an app called Gas Giants, which will allow you to pinpoint the positions of Saturn's moons for any time and date. If you don't have your own scope, call your local planetarium, science museum or amateur astronomy club to see when their next "star party" will be so you won't miss this unique view of Saturn.
Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at creators.com.
Saturn returns to the night sky on Sunday, Sept. 21.
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