Witness Saturn's 2025 Opposition in Colorado

Get ready, Colorado! One of the most breathtaking events in the night sky is happening this year. On September 21, 2025, Saturn will reach opposition, the point in its orbit where it's closest to Earth. This means the ringed planet will be at its biggest, brightest, and most beautiful for the entire year. But 2025 offers a celestial view that we haven't seen in over a decade and won't see again until 2038: the rings will be almost perfectly edge-on from our perspective, making them seem to disappear!

The Case of the Disappearing Rings

Just like Earth, Saturn has seasons, but its year is much longer—about 29.5 Earth years. As it orbits the sun, our viewing angle of its magnificent rings changes. In 2025, Saturn is approaching its equinox. This means we'll see the rings, which are astonishingly thin (less than a kilometer thick), as a razor-thin line of light.

This rare alignment gives us a chance to experience the same confusion that baffled the great astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 1600s. When he first observed Saturn, he saw what he thought were two large moons on either side of the planet. When he looked again later, after Saturn had moved into its equinox, they were gone! Knowing the Greek myth of Saturn (Kronos) eating his children, Galileo jokingly wondered if the planet had devoured its own moons. We now know he was just seeing the rings edge-on. This September, you can relive that historic moment of discovery for yourself!

How to See Saturn at Opposition in Colorado

Seeing Saturn in 2025 is easy, and you won't want to miss it.

• When to Look: The night of Sunday, September 21st, 2025, is the peak of the opposition. Saturn will rise in the east around sunset and be visible all night long, reaching its highest point in the southern sky around midnight. The entire week surrounding this date offers fantastic viewing opportunities.

• How to Find It: You won't need a map to find Saturn. It will be the brightest "star" in the constellation Aquarius, shining with a steady, yellowish light that doesn't twinkle like distant stars.

• What to Expect: Through a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope, you'll be able to see the planet as a distinct orb with a thin line passing through it—the nearly invisible rings! You might also spot its largest moon, Titan, as a small point of light nearby. Seeing the planet without its famous, wide-open rings is a truly unique experience.

Join Us for a Ringside Seat! 🪐

Witnessing this event through a powerful telescope is an unforgettable "oh wow!" moment. At AstroTours.org, we're running special Saturn-viewing programs all week to celebrate.

To make sure you get the best view, we recommend booking your tour for Wednesday, September 17th. Why? Colorado's mountain weather can be unpredictable. Booking for the 17th gives you a perfect backup plan; if we get clouded out, you can easily join our tours on Thursday the 18th. We also have viewing programs available on Saturday the 20th and Wednesday the 24th.

Don't miss your chance to see Saturn like never before. Spaces fill up fast for events like this, so be sure to book your spot today!

Book your tour now at AstroTours.org/book!

Fun Facts About the Gas Giant

While you wait for the big night, here are a few amazing facts about our solar system's jeweled planet:

• It's a Lightweight Giant: Saturn is the second-largest planet but the least dense. It's the only planet in our solar system that would float in water (if you could find a bathtub big enough!).

• King of the Moons: Saturn has a staggering 146 confirmed moons, more than any other planet in our solar system.

• Wicked Winds: The winds in Saturn's upper atmosphere can reach speeds of up to 1,800 kilometers per hour (1,118 mph).

• A Familiar Name: Have you ever wondered where we get the name for the best day of the week? It comes from Saturn's Day... Saturday!

This year's opposition is a special one. Don't let it pass you by! Join us to marvel at the splendor of Saturn and its disappearing rings.

Job Posting Fall 2025

AstroTours.org, a local astronomy tour business operating out of Boulder, Colorado, is seeking tour guides to join their team for the fall going into the busy 2026 summer season. As a tour guide, you will be responsible for leading tours starting at sunset and lasting for approximately 2 hours, with shifts lasting 4 to 6 hours to allow for adequate preparation and clean-up time.

Must-have qualifications:

• Reliability

• Some familiarity with astronomy and the use of telescopes (training will be provided)

• Valid driver's license and experience driving in the mountains at night

• Ability to lift 65lbs

• Confidence speaking in front of an audience

• Enjoyment communicating complex ideas to people from around the world

Additional qualifications that would make you stand out:

• Knowledge of astronomy folklore, such as mythology, astrology, indigenous star names, etc.

• Safety experience, including CPR and First Aid

• Knowledge of Colorado nature, flora, fauna, geology, geography, and history

• Travel or tour guiding experience

If you meet the above qualifications, please send an email to Coda@AstroTours.org with:

1. "Job Posting" in the subject line.

2. Attached CV or resume.

3. In the body of the email please include:

   • A brief bio highlighting your astronomy skills and experience

   • Your availability for Fall / Winter 2025

   • Your favorite Messier object (or object from any other catalog)

   • Any questions you may have.

Seeing the Same Sky: From the Perseids to the Moon, No Matter Where You Are

The Perseids meteor shower is one of the best sky shows of the year, and it’s peaking again this August. If you’re anywhere with a dark sky, it’s worth making time for. But this year, as I watch it from here in Australia, I found myself thinking about a question that first came to me more than 13 years ago.

Back then, I was living in California and dating someone in Colorado. One night during the Perseids, we were both outside, talking on the phone, trying to see if we could spot the same meteor. Every time one of us gasped, the other would check if they’d just seen it too. The relationship didn’t last, but the question stuck in my head. Could we actually have been seeing the same shooting stars?

How far can two people be and still see the same meteor?

Most meteors burn up at an altitude of about 80–120 km. If the meteor is right on your horizon, the furthest someone else can be and still see it is about 2,000–2,500 km away.

The geometry is pretty simple. Imagine Earth as a circle of radius R (~6,371 km) and the meteor at height h. Draw a line from the meteor to an observer so that it just grazes the Earth (a tangent). That makes a right triangle with:

• OA = R (Earth’s radius)

• OM = R + h (Earth + meteor height)

Using the cosine rule for that right triangle:

\cos\theta = \frac{R}{R + h}

Here, \theta is the angle from the meteor’s “sub-point” to your horizon. Two people on opposite sides of that sub-point can each be \theta away, so the max surface separation is:

s_{\text{max}} = 2 R \theta = 2 R \arccos\left(\frac{R}{R + h}\right)

Plug in:

• h = 100 km → ~2,270 km

• h = 120 km → ~2,485 km

So in California and Colorado, we were close enough — but here in Australia, I’m over 14,000 km from Colorado, so there’s no way to share a meteor in real time.

What about satellites like the ISS?

The same formula works — you just change h. The ISS orbits at about 420 km, which means the maximum shared view jumps to ~4,500 km. That covers much of a continent, but still not enough for me here in Broome, WA to wave at someone in Boulder, CO and watch the ISS together.

And the Moon?

Now we’re talking big numbers. The Moon is ~384,400 km away, so its parallax (the shift you see from different points on Earth) is just under 1°. That means two people can be almost half an Earth apart — about 20,000 km — and still see the Moon at the same time.

In fact, Broome and Boulder are about 14,863 km apart, so I can absolutely FaceTime my family in Colorado and have us point at the same Moon. I’ve done it.

Pushing the absolute limit

If you put observers exactly at the North and South Poles, they’re 20,037 km apart. Without atmosphere, they could just barely both see the Moon at the same time if it’s exactly on the horizon for both. But Earth’s atmosphere bends light upward by about 0.5°, and the Moon’s parallax gives another ~0.95° to each observer. Together, that’s about 3° of extra “reach”, which stretches the maximum to ~20,300 km. That means the poles can indeed share the Moon — or even the Sun at equinox — for a short while.

How to watch the Perseids this year

The Perseids peak on the night of August 13th. Normally, the best viewing is after midnight, when your part of Earth is facing into the stream of comet dust — like looking out the front windshield instead of the side window as we plow through space.

But this year, the Moon rises around 10 PM, so the sweet spot will be 9 PM–11 PM on the 13th before moonlight washes out the fainter meteors. Find a dark spot, lie back, and take in as much of the sky as possible — meteors appear all over, not just in the “radiant” in Perseus.

Bring:

• A blanket or reclining chair

• Warm clothes

• Patience — your eyes need ~20 minutes to adjust to darkness

Other sights while you’re out

Early evening:

• Arcturus, Vega, Antares, Mars, and the Summer Triangle

• The Hercules Cluster (M13) and the Butterfly Cluster (M6)

• Double stars like Mizar and Alberio

Later in the night:

• The Moon rising

• Saturn nearby (always a crowd-pleaser through a telescope)

• Bright constellations and the Milky Way

Let the sky connect you

That night in California all those years ago, I might well have been watching the same meteor my partner in Colorado saw. From here in Australia, I know I can’t share a Perseid with my family back home — but we can still share the ISS, or the Moon, or the Sun at the same time.

Let the meteor shower connect you to those around you. Let satellites connect you to friends a continent away. Let the Moon connect you to loved ones on the far side of the world. And let the stars connect you to the universe and beyond — and let AstroTours help you make that connection.