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Ephemeris: 10/15/2026 – A look at Saturn’s fabulous rings

October 15, 2026 Leave a comment

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, October 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 6:58, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:59. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:31 this evening.

The planet Saturn which is the bright star in the southeastern sky in the evening, has those fabulous rings. They can be seen with a telescope that has at least 20 power magnification. The rings have a diameter of 150 thousand miles, and they are extremely thin and orbit Saturn over its equator. Maybe less than 100 feet thick. When the rings become edge on to the Earth, which they do twice in Saturn’s 29 1/2 year orbit of the Sun, during its equinoxes, they completely disappear from view. They are made up of a myriad of small, icy particles. Water ice is prevalent out at that distance from the sun. And a major constituent of most of its satellites. The Cassini spacecraft found that the rings were much more complex than they appear from the earth.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Saturn’s rings are much more complex than what can be seen in a small telescope.
Saturn’s rings are much more complex than what can be seen in a small telescope. Observing Saturn through a small telescope, the A and B rings are evident, though the Cassini Division, of nearly 5,000 miles in width, may be elusive. The C, or Crêpe, ring is very hard to see, and is best seen as a dusky shadowlike feature against the planet. This image of Saturn was created by Stellarium, annotations were created in LibreOffice Draw, assembled and output using GIMP.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Observing, Planets Tags: