Overview
- Saturn’s rings shrink to under 1% apparent width during a ring-plane crossing, creating the illusion that they have disappeared.
- The rings look narrowest around 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, with viewing recommended before about 3:30 a.m. local time using even small backyard telescopes.
- The effect occurs because the ultrathin rings are seen edge-on from Earth, with the main rings only about 10 meters thick.
- Philip Nicholson’s team is employing the James Webb Space Telescope to study the dim e‑ring and to search for carbon atoms that could inform Enceladus habitability research.
- Crossings come in 13–16 year groups and are not always visible from Earth—March’s was lost in solar glare—with the next comparable edge-on view expected in 2038.