A golden point near the moon all week#
Cape Town ETC reports that the Moon and Saturn appeared close together on the night of October 24 to 25, an event known as a conjunction, where two objects look near each other from Earth even though they sit at vastly different distances in space. The outlet describes Saturn as a steady golden light close to the much brighter Moon, visible without equipment, though it adds that binoculars or a telescope reveal more detail.capetownetc.com 1 source for this line, starting with Cape Town ETC
BBC Sky at Night Magazine reports a 97 percent lit waxing gibbous Moon sat north of Saturn as darkness fell on October 24. The magazine says Saturn reached opposition, when it sits opposite the Sun in the sky, on October 4, appearing as an off-white magnitude +0.1 point of light, and that the planet currently reaches a peak altitude approaching 40 degrees from the UK.skyatnightmagazine.com 1 source for this line, starting with BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Rings, moons and a close transit#
BBC Sky at Night Magazine reports Saturn's rings are opening up as the planet's southern pole tilts further toward Earth, at a current tilt of around minus 7.5 degrees. The magazine points to the Cassini Division, the narrow gap separating the outer A ring from the inner B ring, as a good test of viewing conditions, since it tends to blur when seeing is poor, and notes the opposition effect briefly brightened the whole ring system around October 4.skyatnightmagazine.com 1 source for this line, starting with BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Astronomy Magazine reports that Saturn's moon Dione crossed the planet's disk on the evening of October 25, with the crossing timed to 8:43 p.m. Eastern and most visible from the eastern United States, though the magazine notes the event itself was hard to follow by eye and better suited to high-speed video capture. Around 9 p.m. Eastern, the magazine says, 10th-magnitude Dione neared Saturn's northeastern limb while similarly bright Tethys sat east of the rings, Rhea to their west, and brighter Titan, near magnitude 8.5, shone about 2 arcminutes from the planet's center.astronomy.com 1 source for this line, starting with Astronomy
Dione's shadow was expected to cross the planet's far northern polar region starting around 9:40 p.m. EDT and lasting roughly half an hour, with the moon itself reaching the northwestern limb just before 10:40 p.m. EDT, Astronomy Magazine reports. At that point, the outlet says, visual observers would see Dione pop back into view and pull away from Saturn to the west.astronomy.com 1 source for this line, starting with Astronomy
