Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, April 16th.  The sun rises- at 6:55.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 8:29.   The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 4:59 tomorrow morning.

Saturn was in opposition from the sun yesterday.  That means that Saturn was opposite the sun in the sky.  That means that Saturn was closest to the earth at 811 million miles.  The difference from today’s distance isn’t worth mentioning.  Saturn, being 9 and a half times the earth’s distance from the sun doesn’t make much difference in Saturn’s apparent size, whether we view it from the nearest point in our orbit of the farthest.  Saturn, which is just left of the bright bluish star Spica in the southeast in the evening, is definitely not star-like in binoculars, but a 20 power spotting scope will just bring out Saturn’s rings elliptical nature.  Those rings will open up for the next four years, so the rings at their narrowest part will be as wide as the planet.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Image of Saturn created with Cartes du Ciel showing current ring tilt.