Tuesday September 25^th the position of the planet Saturn with respect to the Earth and the Sun places this ringed planet at what is called eastern quadrature. Saturn is at a 90 degree angle from us as this graphic shows. Think first quarter Moon as that is a fair comparison of the relative positions. At this position Saturn follows the Sun across the sky from east to west as the Earth is rotating, meaning that Saturn rises after the Sun and sets after the Sun.

   Where is Saturn now? Saturn is over the southern to southwestern horizon at sunset and is east (to the left) from the reddish star Antares in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. Further toward the west is the planet Jupiter, and to the east from Saturn is the planet Mars. And the 16-day old waning gibbous is above the eastern horizon.

   Saturn currently has a 0.47 apparent magnitude and is centered on the Milky Way within about 2^o from a few easy to see Messier Objects. These include M-21 a 7^th magnitude open star cluster; 5^th magnitude M-8, the Lagoon Nebula; and 5^th magnitude M-20, the Trifid Nebula.

   
   
   Learn a little (or a lot) more about Saturn by visiting the Cassini at Saturn mission web site. Click here to go to the Cassini Mission web site.