Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is the second largest planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. It has a diameter of 116,460 kilometers and a mass of 5.68 x 10^26 kilograms, making it approximately 95 times more massive than Earth. Saturn is a gas giant planet with a composition similar to Jupiter, primarily composed of hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of other gases. The planet is famous for its extensive ring system, consisting of numerous narrow, bright rings composed of ice particles, rock debris, and dust. Saturn has a day length of 10.7 hours and an orbital period of 29.4 Earth years. The planet has 82 known moons, with the largest being Titan, a moon with a thick atmosphere and the only known moon with stable liquid on its surface. The planet has been explored by multiple spacecraft, including NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission, which spent 13 years in orbit around Saturn and its moons.
Saturn is currently in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 1,540,818,114 kilometers from Earth.
View interactive star map
Today's rise, transit and set times of Saturn from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- Saturn is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom .
- Right now it is placed in the West-South-West direction at an altitude of 13° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Saturn is visible to the naked eye, easy and bright under dark skies, might be more difficult from heavily light polluted areas.
- Go to interactive sky chart
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.
Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Saturn is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is Saturn?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Saturn in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Saturn Distance from Earth
The distance of Saturn from Earth is currently 1,540,818,114 kilometers, equivalent to 10.299733 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 25 minutes and 39.6160 seconds to travel from Saturn and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Saturn from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.
The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of Saturn from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest Approach of Saturn to Earth
Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Saturn to Earth happens on Wed Dec 11 1619 at a distance of 8.012797 Astronomical Units, or 1,198,697,442 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Saturn Brightness and Light Curve
The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Saturn, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.
Saturn Physical Data
The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Saturn. Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 116464 km | 9.1402 |
| Mass | 568.319 x 1024 kg | 95.1609 |
| Density | 0.6871 gr/cm3 | 0.1246 |
| Escape Velocity | 36.09 km/s | 3.2252 |
| Sideral Rotation | 10.6562 hours | 0.4452 |
| Absolute Magnitude | -8.88 | |
| Geometric Albedo | 0.47 |
Saturn 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Saturn computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Saturn in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Apparent DiameterDiameter | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Apr 20 | 23h 08m 26s | -07° 22’ 47” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 21 | 23h 08m 48s | -07° 20’ 39” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 22 | 23h 09m 11s | -07° 18’ 33” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 23 | 23h 09m 33s | -07° 16’ 30” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 24 | 23h 09m 53s | -07° 14’ 26” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 25 | 23h 10m 15s | -07° 12’ 24” | 1.07 | 15.5” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 26 | 23h 10m 36s | -07° 10’ 24” | 1.07 | 15.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 27 | 23h 10m 57s | -07° 08’ 26” | 1.07 | 15.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 28 | 23h 11m 17s | -07° 06’ 29” | 1.07 | 15.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 29 | 23h 11m 38s | -07° 04’ 32” | 1.07 | 15.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 Apr 30 | 23h 11m 57s | -07° 02’ 39” | 1.07 | 15.6” | Aquarius |
| 2024 May 01 | 23h 12m 17s | -07° 00’ 46” | 1.07 | 15.7” | Aquarius |
| 2024 May 02 | 23h 12m 38s | -06° 58’ 54” | 1.07 | 15.7” | Aquarius |
| 2024 May 03 | 23h 12m 56s | -06° 57’ 06” | 1.07 | 15.7” | Aquarius |