QNA
Doha
The Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has announced that Saturn, the ringed planet, will appear brighter than usual tonight, Sunday, October 4, when it reaches opposition to the Sun.
Dr. Bashir Marzouq, an astronomy expert at QCH, said Saturn will reach its closest point to Earth during this opposition, coming within 8.43 astronomical units (AU) of the centre of Earth. One astronomical unit is approximately 150 million kilometres.
Saturn’s opposition is an important astronomical phenomenon because it will make the planet visible to the unaided eye in Qatar’s night sky for nearly the entire night, from Sunday evening until sunrise on Monday.
Residents of Qatar will be able to observe and track Saturn’s movement across the sky with the unaided eye above the eastern horizon after sunset on Sunday at 5:19pm Doha local time.
Saturn will continue its apparent motion across the sky, reaching its highest point, or zenith, over Qatar at 11:24pm Doha local time. At that point, it will be 67 degrees above the southern horizon. It will then continue moving toward the western horizon, where it will set around sunrise on Monday.
Marzouq noted that Saturn reaches opposition once a year and it was last at opposition on Sunday, September 21, 2025, and will reach opposition again on Monday, October 18, 2027.
The opposition occurs when the centres of Saturn, Earth and the Sun are aligned with Earth positioned between Saturn and the Sun. Saturn is therefore directly opposite the Sun in the sky.
On the same day, Saturn will also reach the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun, at a distance of 9.77 astronomical units from the Sun’s centre.
Saturn is a gas giant and the second-largest planet in our solar system. Its diameteris approximately 10 times that of Earth.
As seen from Earth, Saturn appears as a bright yellow object visible to the unaided eye, but observing its rings requires astronomical instruments and telescopes.
