© NASA/Cassini

Saturn at solar conjunction

Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Outer Planets feed

Objects: Saturn
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The sky at

Saturn will pass close to the Sun in the sky as its orbit carries it around the far side of the solar system from the Earth.

At closest approach, Saturn will appear at a separation of only 1°29' from the Sun, making it totally unobservable for several weeks while it is lost in the Sun's glare.

At around the same time, Saturn will also be at its most distant from the Earth – receding to a distance of 10.06 AU – since the two planets will lie on opposite sides of the solar system.

If Saturn could be observed at this time, it would appear at its smallest and faintest on account of its large distance. It would measure 16.5 arcsec in diameter.

Saturn
Saturn at opposition
Saturn
Saturn at solar conjunction

A comparison of the size of Saturn as seen at opposition and at solar conjunction.

Over following weeks and months, Saturn will re-emerge to the west of the Sun, gradually becoming visible for ever-longer periods in the pre-dawn sky. After around six months, it will reach opposition, when it will be visible for virtually the whole night. A chart of the path of Saturn across the sky in 2031 can be found here, and a chart of its rising and setting times here.

The position of Saturn at the moment it passes solar conjunction will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Angular Size
Saturn 04h42m30s 20°44'N Taurus 16.5"
Sun 04h41m 22°12'N Taurus 31'32"

The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 2 Jun 2031

The sky on 2 June 2031
Sunrise
05:19
Sunset
20:19
Twilight ends
22:23
Twilight begins
03:15

12-day old moon
Waxing Gibbous

94%

12 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 04:57 12:17 19:38
Venus 08:34 16:06 23:38
Moon 17:15 22:31 03:42
Mars 17:03 22:16 03:30
Jupiter 21:13 01:50 06:27
Saturn 05:30 12:51 20:12
All times shown in EDT.

Warning

Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.

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

01 Feb 2031  –  Saturn ends retrograde motion
05 Oct 2031  –  Saturn enters retrograde motion
11 Dec 2031  –  Saturn at opposition
16 Feb 2032  –  Saturn ends retrograde motion

Image credit

© NASA/Cassini

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41.14°N
73.26°W
EDT

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