Saturn in opposition

Today, October 4, 2026, Saturn reaches its opposition. This means that the Earth passes directly between the sun and Saturn, which means that the ringed planet is exactly on the opposite side of the Earth in relation to the sun. In the picture, the planet is seen in the middle just above the trees. In binoculars you can see a tendency to rings. It shines with a significantly calmer light compared to the stars, slightly red in color. The picture shows a cliff illuminated with UV light and the feeling is like looking over an ocean with illuminated islands in the tropics. But it is lichens that fluoresce in fantastic colors.

Mushrooms & Saturn

Small mushrooms hiding in the grass with planet Saturn above. You see the planet as a bright "star" low to the left of the tree.

Moon & Saturn

A clear evening with the moon behind thin clouds but Saturn between clouds. 

Saturn was a quick expo but the moon so I created a high resolution mosaic of several images. 

The moon is in a waning moon (after the full moon on September 26), where about 94–97% of the moon's surface was illuminated, so beautiful mountains & craters are visible. 

Saturn is a gas giant that is mostly made of hydrogen and helium.

It has a diameter of about 116,460 kilometers (about nine times larger than Earth).

So light that it would float on water if there was a bathtub that was big enough.

A day only takes about 10.5 hours.

Surrounded by wide, thin rings made of ice and rock.

Has a large number of moons, of which Titan is the largest. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere. Distance 1.2 to 1.4 billion kilometers.

Moon & planets

A cold, colorful afternoon in Vallentuna, Sweden. In the sky, a thin crescent moon with earthshine is visible, and to the left of the moon, the planet Saturn, and to the lower right, the planet Mercury.

Earthshine is an astronomical phenomenon in which sunlight is reflected from the Earth onto the dark night side of the moon, making the entire lunar disk faintly visible even when only a thin crescent is directly illuminated by the sun.

Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system and the one closest to the sun. It is a rocky, so-called terrestrial planet with a surface filled with craters, which makes it very reminiscent of our moon.

Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system and is best known for its spectacular and complex ring system. It is a gas giant that consists mainly of hydrogen and helium.