Overview
- Skywatchers worldwide reported a ringless-looking Saturn on the nights of November 23–24 as the planet stood higher in the evening sky.
- The effect occurs when Earth passes through the plane of Saturn’s rings, a predictable alignment that recurs roughly every 13–15 years.
- Saturn’s rings span about 280,000 kilometers across yet are only tens of meters thick, so they reflect little sunlight when viewed edge-on.
- A similar crossing on March 23 went largely unseen because Saturn was too near the Sun, while this event still allowed larger telescopes to detect faint ring streaks and moons like Titan and Rhea.
- The rings will gradually open back up over the coming years, a short-term viewing change distinct from the much slower ‘ring rain’ erosion occurring over millions of years.