Saturn will be at its brightest April 28 and will be visible in the sky throughout the night, Space.com reports.
A celestial treat awaits sky-gazers this weekend, as Saturn will be at its brightest this year on Sunday. The ringed planet will be positioned just opposite the sun, making it visible in the sky throughout the night. This phenomenon is known as "an opposition". Its positioning will make it appear bigger and brighter to the Earth than at any other time for the rest of the year. The planet will remain in this position for nearly a week, but will be the brightest on Sunday.
Saturn is known to be a spectacular planet with thousands of beautiful ringlets, composed of chunks of ice and rock. The planet, which is the second biggest planet in the solar system, is composed of mostly helium, hydrogen and oxygen. It also has wind in its upper atmosphere that travels at a speed of 1,600 feet per second. On Earth, the fastest hurricane has topped a speed of merely 360 feet per second.
"Saturn's rings offer a nearby astrophysical laboratory to study and observe - in real time - many mechanisms and processes theorised to take place in astrophysical disks with the use of the Cassini-Huygens space craft," Loughborough physicist Phil Sutton said. "And Saturn's F ring is probably the most active in the solar system. That's why we think it is so fascinating."
The planet is also known to have a collection of 62 moons. Its brightest moons are mostly in orbits in the same plane as the rings, and Titan, one of the planet's moons, is the largest moon in the solar system.
For those who may not be able to observe the planet, you can watch it live on the Internet here.
