{"id":570128,"date":"2026-07-27T09:09:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570128\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:09:24","slug":"the-sky-today-on-monday-july-27-saturn-stands-still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/570128\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Today on\u00a0Monday, July 27: Saturn stands still"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tBack to Article List\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe ringed planet comes to a stop against the background stars of Pisces, switching its motion from eastward to westward.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1104\" height=\"755\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785143364_113_07272026.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"A simulated predawn sky looking southeast on July 27, 2026, at 3 A.M. Saturn glows as a bright point near the upper center of the frame, with the star Hamal visible to the upper left. Diphda and Fomalhaut are labeled across the lower portion of the frame against a deep blue sky fading to a faint glow near the dark horizon.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOn early mornings this week, Saturn dominates the southeastern sky as the brightest point of light there. Credit: Stellarium\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/the-sky-this-week\/the-sky-this-week-from-july-24-to-31-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky This Week<\/a>\u00a0column.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">July 26: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/observing\/the-sky-today-sunday-july-26-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Juno at opposition<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">The ringed planet Saturn reaches a stationary point tonight at 7 P.M. EDT. Located in the constellation Pisces, it is highest around sunrise, so the best time to spot it is a few hours before dawn, with the sky still dark and the gas giant well above the horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around 3 A.M. local daylight time on July 27, Saturn is roughly 40\u00b0 high in the southeast, the brightest point of light here. It stands in southern Pisces, just above the lumbering constellation Cetus the Whale. Through a telescope, the planet\u2019s disk stretches 18\u201d across, while its rings are more than twice that: 41\u201d across. Saturn is currently tilted by nearly 7\u00b0, showing off its south polar region and the underside of its rings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While several 10th-magnitude moons cluster near the planet, its largest \u2014 and brightest \u2014 moon, Titan, is a bit farther away. On the morning of the 27th, it lies about 1.7\u2019 southwest of Saturn and is moving east. It should be easy to spot; Titan will pull closer in to the planet\u2019s southwest tomorrow morning, then sit southeast of Saturn the morning of the 29th. If you\u2019re an early riser, try to catch it over the next few days to see orbital mechanics in motion!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u2019s halt brings Saturn\u2019s prograde, or eastward, motion to an end. After this evening, the ringed planet will about-face and begin moving westward, or retrograde, relative to the background stars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sunrise: 5:54 A.M.<br \/>Sunset: 8:18 P.M.<br \/>Moonrise: 7:31 P.M.<br \/>Moonset: 3:39 A.M.<br \/>Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (98%)<br \/>*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By tomorrow morning, July 28, Mercury has reached magnitude 1.0 in the early-morning sky. Rising a little over an hour before the Sun, it reaches some 6\u00b0 above the horizon 40 minutes ahead of sunrise. You\u2019ll find it low on the eastern horizon, left of the fading stars of Orion the Hunter and far below and to the left of Mars in Taurus. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1256\" height=\"821\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/07282026.png\" alt=\"A simulated predawn sky looking east on July 28, 2026, 40 minutes before sunrise. Mars glows as a bright orange-red dot near the top center of the frame, with Betelgeuse visible to the right and Mercury labeled as a faint point low in the warm amber glow near the horizon. The sky grades from deep brown-blue at the top to a rich orange along the dark, flat horizon.\" class=\"wp-image-174576\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tLook for Mercury, now magnitude 1.0, low on the horizon about 40 minutes before sunrise, as dawn begins to brighten the sky. Credit: Stellarium<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Red Planet, which shines a tad fainter at magnitude 1.3, will fade out of view first and may be harder to find in a broader swath of sky, while Mercury\u2019s location just above the horizon will help in your search. If you use binoculars or a telescope to view the small planet, make sure you put them away well ahead of sunrise from your specific location.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alison Klesman\u00a0is senior editor of\u00a0Astronomy\u00a0magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List The ringed planet comes to a stop against the background stars of Pisces, switching&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,7882,82,44123],"class_list":["post-570128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-observing","tag-science","tag-sky-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}