Take a peek at the early-morning duo of Saturn and Neptune, rising together in Pisces around 2:30 A.M. local daylight time. By 4 A.M. local daylight time they are some 15° high, with blazing Venus visible to their lower left. Saturn stands out well to the naked eye at magnitude 1.1, but Neptune (magnitude 7.8) will require binoculars or a telescope to see.
The two planets are now 1.7° apart and will fit well within the field of view of binoculars, a finder scope, or a wide-field telescope. Through a telescope, Saturn’s disk spans 17” and its rings stretch 38”. They are tilted some 3° to our line of sight, showing off their southern face. The planet’s largest moon, Titan, should be visible some 1.5’ east of the ringed planet this morning.
Neptune’s disk is tiny, appearing just 2” across. The distant planet is northeast of Saturn and may appear like a “flat,” bluish-gray star.
The two planets will continue closing in on each other in the coming weeks, passing within 1° of each other late next month in a conjunction.
Sunrise: 5:34 A.M.
Sunset: 8:21 P.M.
Moonrise: 8:52 A.M.
Moonset: —
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (17%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
