ORLANDO, Fla. – Saturn is making a stunning return to the night sky, and it’s a must-see for amateur astronomers or anyone interested really.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in our solar system, complete with its iconic rings.
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Wednesday night, it rises just before midnight and can be seen high in the southern sky before sunrise. You can witness a beautiful conjunction in which an 81% illuminated waning gibbous moon will appear close to Saturn.
Look for the moon lower in the sky and to the left of the planet. The moon will rise around 10:57 p.m. EDT.
For viewers in North America, the two will be about 10 degrees apart in the night sky.
In some parts of Asia and Africa, there’s an even more exciting event: the moon will actually move across Saturn, temporarily hiding it from view. This phenomenon, called an occultation, will be visible from places like eastern Africa, Madagascar, southern and eastern India, northwest Indonesia, and much of southeast Asia, China and Mongolia. During this time, Saturn will appear to disappear behind the moon for a few hours.
It’s important to remember that these are just illusions caused by the way things line up from our perspective on Earth.
The moon is around 238,855 miles away from us, while Saturn is about 832 million miles distant on these specific days. So even though they look close together, they’re actually incredibly far apart.
If you’re up to witness this cool event, please share your photos via our PinIt! page. Here’s how.