Saturn will reach the end of its retrograde motion, ending its westward movement through the constellations and returning to more usual eastward motion instead. This reversal of direction is a phenomenon that all the solar system's outer planets periodically undergo, a few months after they pass opposition.
The retrograde motion is caused by the Earth's own motion around the Sun. As the Earth circles the Sun, our perspective changes, and this causes the apparent positions of objects to move from side-to-side in the sky with a one-year period. This nodding motion is super-imposed on the planet's long-term eastward motion through the constellations.
The diagram below illustrates this. The grey dashed arrow shows the Earth's sight-line to the planet, and the diagram on the right shows the planet's apparently movement across the sky as seen from the Earth:
The retrograde motion of a planet in the outer solar system.
Not drawn to scale.
2003–2004 apparition of Saturn
| 25 Oct 2003 | – | Saturn enters retrograde motion |
| 31 Dec 2003 | – | Saturn at opposition |
| 07 Mar 2004 | – | Saturn ends retrograde motion |
Observing Saturn
Saturn leaves retrograde motion as its 2003–2004 apparition comes to an end, although it will remain visible for some weeks in the dusk sky.
Its celestial coordinates as it leaves retrograde motion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| Saturn | 06h27m00s | 22°46'N | Gemini | -0.3 | 19.2" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
From Columbus , it will be visible in the evening sky, becoming accessible around 18:55 (EST), 68° above your south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 19:54, 72° above your southern horizon. It will continue to be observable until around 02:22, when it sinks below 9° above your western horizon.
Over the following weeks, Saturn will reach its highest point in the sky four minutes earlier each night, gradually disappearing into evening twilight.
The sky on 21 Nov 2024
| The sky on 21 November 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
55% 20 days old |
All times shown in EST.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE430 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
| 07 Mar 2004 | – Saturn ends retrograde motion |
| 08 Nov 2004 | – Saturn enters retrograde motion |
| 13 Jan 2005 | – Saturn at opposition |
| 21 Mar 2005 | – Saturn ends retrograde motion |
Image credit
© NASA/Cassini