The upper chart shows the path of Saturn across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +8.5 are shown. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.
The lower chart shows how the appearance of Saturn changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au) and the opening angle of the rings. Note that the tilt of Saturn's rings varies subtly throughout the year.
Saturn is an evening sky object at the beginning of the year, setting in early evening and getting ever closer to the horizon as it approaches conjunction in mid-February. Afterwards it reappears in the morning sky, rising earlier every day and eventually before midnight by May (southern hemisphere) or June (northern hemisphere). Opposition occurs in late August and the planet is visible in the evening hours for the rest of the year. The rings close to a minimum tilt of just over 7° in June before widening again; a ring-plane crossing takes place in two years time.
| January | |
|---|---|
| 1 | maximum declination south: −15.32° |
| maximum ring opening: 13.63° | |
| 1.3° north of the fourth-magnitude star γ Capricorni (Nashira) | |
| 14 | 1.4° north of the third-magnitude star δ Capricorni (Deneb Algedi) |
| 22 | planetary conjunction: 0.3° south of Venus |
| 23 | 3.8° north of the Moon |
| February | |
| 13 | Capricornus → Aquarius |
| 16 | conjunction |
| 19 | 3.9° north of the Moon |
| 27 | 0.8° north of the fourth-magnitude star ι Aquarii |
| March | |
| 2 | planetary conjunction: 0.5° north of Mercury |
| 19 | 3.6° north of the Moon |
| April | |
| 16 | 3.5° north of the Moon |
| May | |
| 13 | 3.3° north of the Moon |
| 28 | west quadrature |
| June | |
| 9 | 3.0° north of the Moon |
| 12 | maximum declination north: −10.44° |
| 13 | minimum ring opening: 7.30° |
| 17 | stationary in ecliptic longitude: direct → retrograde |
| 18 | stationary in right ascension: direct → retrograde |
| July | |
| 7 | 2.7° north of the Moon |
| August | |
| 3 | 2.5° north of the Moon |
| 27 | opposition: magnitude +0.5, apparent diameter 19.02 arc-seconds, ring opening 9.04° |
| 30 | 2.5° north of the Moon |
| September | |
| 27 | 2.7° north of the Moon |
| October | |
| 24 | 2.8° north of the Moon |
| November | |
| 2 | local maximum ring opening: 10.51° |
| 4 | stationary in ecliptic longitude: retrograde → direct |
| stationary in right ascension: retrograde → direct | |
| 20 | 2.7° north of the Moon |
| 23 | east quadrature |
| December | |
| 17 | 2.5° north of the Moon |
