Posted on 09/22/2025 1:17:58 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: On Saturn, the rings tell you the season. On Earth, today marks an equinox, the time when the Earth's equator tilts directly toward the Sun. Since Saturn's grand rings orbit along the planet's equator, these rings appear most prominent -- from the direction of the Sun -- when the spin axis of Saturn points toward the Sun. Conversely, when Saturn's spin axis points to the side, an equinox occurs, and the edge-on rings are hard to see from not only the Sun -- but Earth. In the featured montage, images of Saturn between the years of 2020 and 2025 have been superposed to show the giant planet passing, with this year's equinox, from summer in the north to summer in the south. Yesterday, Saturn was coincidently about as close as it gets to planet Earth, and so this month the ringed giant's orb is relatively bright and visible throughout the night.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
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The rings are now practically edge on, so the “good” views of Saturn through a backyard telescope are at least a couple of years away. :(
Wow.
Getting better every year from now on. They will be most open in seven years.
Be nice to see surface images.
Nice!
A wobbly planet. Like a spinning top.
Pretty.
Very effective image. (That will never be displayed in today’s woke Afro-centric “science” textbooks. )
Beautiful, in an eerily serene way.
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