Why Saturn season is the best telescope season 🪐

What are the three best things to see through a telescope?

Saturn, Saturn and Saturn.

When you swing a telescope toward Saturn, center it and place your eye to the eyepiece, something magical will happen. There Saturn will sit among the blackness of space, a tiny cartoon world encircled by rings. It will look totally fake – as if someone placed a sticker of Saturn at the end of the telescope. But it is the real thing.

This is Saturn season, the time of the year when Saturn is closest to Earth as it rises in the eastern sky right after sunset. This month, the ringed planet will be about 820 million miles from Earth.

Saturn is so huge that you could fit nine Earths across its diameter. Its giant gaseous surface reflects so much sunlight that you can still find it with the naked eye across those millions of miles. After dark, look for it to appear as a bright yellow, steady star low in the southeastern sky.

How many rings does Saturn have?

Saturn doesn’t just have one or two rings. Ground-based telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope and unmanned spacecraft have brought us closer to the ringed planet. Astronomers now categorize them into 10 main rings, several arcs and a few ringlets. But there may actually be over 1,000 individual rings around Saturn.

The rings are not solid like a road but are composed of individual bits of ice, dust and rock. Astronomers believe the rings were the result of a collision from multiple moons scattering debris around the planet or from moons that wandered too close to Saturn and were shredded by tremendous tidal forces of the giant planet. These ring particles individually circle Saturn like tiny moons and each move at a different rate. The closer the ring is to the planet, the faster it travels.

Saturn’s farthest-flung and faintest ring, called the Phoebe Ring, extends millions of miles from the planet. It circles Saturn backward (compared to the other rings) and follows the path of the tiny moon Phoebe.

Cassini sees it all

The best views of the ringed planet came from the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004-2017. Cassini observed every bend of the rings as well as its many fascinating moons.

Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon, which is larger than the planet Mercury, has its own atmosphere. Iapetus is a two-toned moon with an expansive, tall, skinny mountain range making it look like a brown walnut in space. Mimas, aka the Death Star Moon, sports a huge crater on its surface making it look exactly like a scene from "Star Wars."

And then there is Enceladus, Saturn’s tiny, icy moon. Saturn’s “E” ring is created by geysers from Enceladus. Enceladus sprays vapor and dust from its south pole into outer space and, as it circles Saturn, the remnants of the geysers leave a ring behind.

One of the most dramatic images from the Cassini spacecraft was taken when it was in Saturn’s shadow. As the planet appeared in silhouette, Cassini revealed hidden, ghostly structures in the rings. And between two of the rings sits a pale blue dot: Earth. Our planet, as seen from Saturn at almost one billion miles away is a tiny speck in the vast blackness of space.

Saturn facts and figures

• Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun.

• Distance from Earth in August: 824,000,000 miles.

• Diameter: 74,898 miles at the equator.

• Composition: hydrogen and helium.

• Number of moons: 83.

• Length of rings: almost 200,000 miles.

• Thickness of rings: 66 feet thick on average.

• Orbital period around the sun: 29.5 years.

• Visiting spacecrafts: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Cassini-Huygens.

Make a date with Saturn

You don’t need the Cassini spacecraft to see Saturn yourself. Get to your local observatory, science center or astronomy club and look through a telescope at Saturn this season. It is a sight you won’t soon forget.

Dean Regas is the astronomer for the Cincinnati Observatory and author of the books "100 Things to See in the Night Sky" and "How to Teach Grown-Ups About Pluto." He can be reached at dean@cincinnatiobservatory.org.

Saturn-day at the Cincinnati Observatory

What: Learn all about the ringed planet and view Saturn through telescopes (weather permitting). All ages welcome.

When: Saturday, Sept. 3, 9-11 p.m.

Where: Cincinnati Observatory, 3489 Observatory Place, Mount Lookout.

Admission: $15, $7 children advance; $20, $10 children day-of.

Info: Reservations recommended, www.cincinnatiobservatory.org.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Saturn season: Why you have to see the ringed planet with a telescope