Star gazers can view Saturn closest tomorrow

With planet Saturn coming in opposition to Sun on Monday, star gazers can view Saturn to be the brightest, biggest and closest it can get to Earth this Year, according to Hyderabad-based Planetary Society of India.

With planet Saturn coming in opposition to Sun tomorrow, star gazers can view Saturn to be the brightest, biggest and closest it can get to Earth this Year, according to Hyderabad-based Planetary Society of India.

HT Image

“A planet is at opposition when it is opposite the Sun from our viewpoint on Earth. On March 9, Sun-Earth-Saturn would be in a straight line and opposite to each other. The result is that the object is fully illuminated by Sun and it appears disk-like,” said Planetary Society of India founder and secretary N Raghunandan Kumar here today.

People can view this spectacular phenomena at 1.23 am on 9 March, he said adding people can also spot the planet with naked eye after sunset up to last week of August this year.

On March 9, one can use Moon to spot Saturn. “It can be found far below moon, while on March 11 it can be found above moon towards left side,” Kumar said.

Saturn would appear as star like object for naked eye. However, if one can see through telescope they can view its finest features along with magnificent rings which would disappear from our view by September 4, when the rings would tend to go edge as we see from Earth, he said.

With a view to create awareness about Saturn, the Society will organise ‘Saturn Observation Campaign India-2009´ from March 21 to August 15 in different parts of the city, Kumar said.