Saturn's Pulling a Stunt This Weekend That Hasn't Happened Since 2009: How to Watch

It's not every day that a prominent feature of our solar system disappears, but that's precisely what will happen with Saturn. Over the weekend, Saturn's gorgeous rings will nearly vanish from sight. No worries, they'll be back in a couple of weeks. This phenomenon is caused by an optical illusion that occurs when the stars line up. Saturn is tilted at 26.73 degrees on its orbit, while Earth is very close to that at a 23.5-degree tilt. When the two planets line up just right, the rings of Saturn are almost entirely horizontal from the perspective of Earth, causing them to mostly vanish. Read more: Best camera to buy in 2025 "As Saturn and the Earth travel around the sun, we will periodically be in a position where those rings are seen edge on," explains Dr. Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. "Because the rings are so thin, if we look at it edge-on, we can't see (the rings)." So, anyone looking up at the sky this weekend will likely not ... Read full article.