Overview

• Saturn rises in the east at sunset on Sept. 21 and stays up all night, with the clearest views around midnight to early morning.
• Look toward the south-southeast about a third of the way up the sky near Pisces, choose dark skies, and give your eyes 15–30 minutes to adjust.
• A small telescope or binoculars at modest power (around 30x) can reveal the rings as a thin, unusually bright line due to reduced shadows at opposition.
• At closest approach this year the planet sits about 1.28 billion kilometers from Earth, or roughly 740 million miles.
• After the peak night, Saturn remains a prominent evening target through roughly February 2026, though brightness and viewing time gradually diminish.