![]() ![]() Or you can wait until evening, when the gas giant rises around sunset and climbs higher as the sky grows dark. You can certainly catch the planet at the moment of opposition, when it is about 30° high in the southwest. Shining at magnitude 0.4, its light dominates the Water-bearer’s sparse western regions the nearest bright star is nearly 20° to Saturn’s south: magnitude 1.2 Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus. Today is the big day: Saturn reaches opposition at 4 A.M. ![]() You’ll need binoculars to locate Neptune, nearby in Pisces. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (74%) Saturn sits high in the south in the hours around local midnight at opposition. Just make sure, as always, to put away telescopes or binoculars well before sunrise from your location, which may differ from the time given below. ![]() Although the cluster will be difficult to observe when it is closest to the horizon, its sparkling stars should remain visible - especially through optics - even as the sky begins to lighten. Look closer to the horizon, and you may also catch sight of the Beehive Cluster (M44) in the middle of Cancer, rising about two hours before the Sun. Stay tuned - we’ll be sure to follow this comet as it continues to brighten on its one and only journey through the inner solar system. See if you can spot it with binoculars if not, a small scope should do it. You can find Nishimura by dropping down (east) about 4.3° from magnitude 3.6 Kappa (κ) Geminorum. This region is visible in the hour or two before sunrise - the longer you wait, the higher above the eastern horizon it will be, but the brighter the sky will become as well. Nishimura is located in far western Cancer, right near its border with neighboring Gemini. It’s currently mid-8th magnitude and expected to brighten even further, potentially reaching naked-eye magnitudes in mid-September. Discovered less than two weeks ago, this dusty iceball is making its way toward a close approach with the Sun in less than a month. Up for an early-morning challenge to kick off the weekend? There’s a new, brightening cometary player on the scene: C/2023 P1 (Nishimura). The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. By then, our satellite has set and the sky is much darker, but Lyra remains relatively high above the turbulent air near the horizon. The region of sky we’re looking at is relatively far from the waxing Moon, but the best views will still come starting around local midnight and later into tomorrow morning. Although astronomers once thought it was spherical, they now believe it is indeed ring-shaped, perhaps resembling a slightly squished doughnut. The entire nebula spans a little under 1.5′ at its widest. At the very middle is the object responsible for the nebula: a 15th-magnitude white dwarf. It takes a telescope to show the Ring’s true nature: a denser circular structure of material surrounding a lighter, hazy center. Binoculars will show it as simply a fuzzy, slightly larger-than-expected star. The Ring glows at magnitude 8.8, requiring some form of magnification to enjoy. You’ll find the Ring about 6.6° southeast of Vega you can also simply slide some 0.8° east-southeast of magnitude 3.5 Sheliak (Beta Lyrae) to land on our target. This famous object was recently photographed at infrared wavelengths by the James Webb Space Telescope. We can use this bright star as a jumping-off point to find the Ring Nebula (M57), a planetary nebula of glowing gas blown off by a dying star. The brightest star in this large asterism is magnitude 0 Vega, which still stands 85° above the southern horizon two hours after sunset. The Summer Triangle is now slowly setting in the evening as its eponymous season draws to a close. Although they won’t approach quite this tightly this week, a Full Super Moon still passes near the ringed planet while the latter is at opposition. In 2007, the Moon and Saturn came close to each other in the sky. ![]()
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