{"id":635234,"date":"2026-10-03T13:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T13:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635234\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T13:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T13:56:16","slug":"kansas-city-can-see-saturn-at-its-brightest-this-weekend-heres-how-to-find-it-kcur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635234\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City can see Saturn at its brightest this weekend. Here’s how to find it | KCUR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturn will be visible starting Friday and will hit peak viewing time when it reaches opposition Sunday, Oct. 4. That\u2019s when Earth passes between Saturn and the Sun, bringing the planet as close as possible to Earth and making it especially bright in the sky.<\/p>\n

To the naked eye, Saturn should be visible as a bright, yellowish point of light. But local astronomers say even a small telescope will reveal its rings.<\/p>\n

David Young, director of the Powell Observatory<\/a> in Louisburg, Kansas, says Saturn is currently positioned so it will be visible for much of the weekend, as long as the night skies are clear.<\/p>\n

Powell Observatory will be open Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Young says Saturn will likely be one of the main targets for stargazers, along with other objects like galaxies and star clusters.<\/p>\n

The planet\u2019s rings are also becoming easier to see. Last year, they were nearly edge-on from Earth, making them appear very thin. Now, the tilt is increasing.<\/p>\n

\"Voyager<\/p>\n

Voyager 1 was the second spacecraft to study Saturn up close. Launched Sept. 5, 1977, Voyager 1\u2019s closest approach to Saturn was on Nov. 12, 1980, at a range of about 78,000 miles. A few days earlier, on Nov. 3, 1980, Voyager 1 took these images of Saturn and two of its moons, Tethys (above) and Dione.<\/p>\n

Space fans can also try the Warko Observatory<\/a> at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It\u2019s open Friday nights through October and is offering a chance to view Saturn on Friday night. Assistant Observatory director John Jezac says the observatory\u2019s 16-inch reflector is particularly well-suited for viewing planets.<\/p>\n

For those without a telescope, Young says there\u2019s an easy way to identify Saturn in the night sky: Look toward the east after sunset for a yellowish star that doesn\u2019t twinkle.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanets don\u2019t twinkle,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s Saturn.\u201d<\/p>\n

October skies have plenty more <\/a>in store for stargazers. Jupiter will appear near the moon in the pre-dawn sky on Oct. 6, while the Draconid meteor shower peaks around Oct. 8 and 9. Later this month, the Orionid meteor shower peaks Oct. 21 and 22, with as many as 20 meteors an hour under good conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturn will be visible starting Friday and will hit peak viewing time when it reaches opposition Sunday, Oct.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-635234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}