Saturn passes 1° south of Neptune at 4 A.M. EDT. The pair of planets rises shortly after midnight and is best seen in the few hours before dawn, standing some 35° high in the southeast around 4 A.M. local daylight time.
Saturn, at magnitude 1.0, is readily visible to the naked eye, hanging below the Circlet asterism in a relatively sparse region of southern Pisces. Neptune, at magnitude 7.8, cannot be seen without optical aid. With the two planets so close, both will appear within the field of view of binoculars or any telescope, with the tiny, bluish disk of Neptune 1° due north of Saturn.
Telescopes will also show Saturn’s lovely ring system, stretching 40” across and tilted about 3.6° to our line of sight. The planet’s largest and brightest moon, mid-8th-magnitude Titan, lies just under 3’ east of the planet tonight. In a few days’ time Titan’s shadow will transit the disk of Saturn, so make sure to keep reading for more details on how to observe this relatively rare event.
Sunrise: 5:34 A.M.
Sunset: 8:33 P.M.
Moonrise: 10:04 A.M.
Moonset: 11:41 P.M.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (21%)
*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.
