To earthbound eyes, Saturn is a bright orange star. Binoculars will accentuate Saturn's color and show its largest moon Titan, an 8th magnitude object. But to see Saturn in all its glory you'll want to view it through a telescope. Share this moment with others; it's one of the greatest pleasures in amateur astronomy!

A magnification of at least 30X is required to see Saturn's rings clearly. The first thing you'll notice is how the ring system seems split into two. The void between rings A and B is named the Cassini Division and stands out as a dark dividing lane that is easily seen in small telescopes. Ring C, known as the Crepe ring, lies inside rings A and B and is more challenging to detect. Saturn's fainter outer rings cannot be seen with a small telescope.

In the few months before or after opposition, Saturn casts a shadow on the far side of its rings that can be observed with the aid of a small telescope.

Saturn is tilted to the plane of its orbit, so the angle of Saturn's rings changes over the years. This is what confused and amazed Galileo long ago. At times, the rings are face-on to the earthbound observer, appearing large and bright. At other times, they are edge-on and almost invisible.

Like Jupiter, Saturn's atmosphere has belts and zones, but these are lower in contrast and more difficult to observe. Saturn's atmosphere is less compressed than Jupiter's, and we cannot see through to the atmosphere's lower layers. Still, various belts, especially the darker polar regions, can be glimpsed through larger telescopes.

A telescope will also reveal several of Saturn's other spherical moons: Rhea, Iapetus, Tethys, and Dione.