On the September new Moon weekend I took some beautiful images of Saturn at my Stardust Observatory with my Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and Saturn’s rings are now back in view :-)
Saturn’s opposition for 2026 is in a couple of weeks time on the 4th October so now is the best time to view and capture Saturn while it’s the brightest and closest to our Earth.
How exciting to see Saturn’s beautiful rings back in view because this time last year the rings were nearly edge on and so thin that they nearly disappeared!
This only happens every 13 to 15 years and I was so lucky to capture the event in both September and November 2025. Please see my blog posts below:
Blog post for September 2025 where rings have nearly disappeared:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturn-at-opposition-in-2025-with-its-moons-titan-and-rhea
Blog post where Saturn’s rings were at there thinnest:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturns-rare-ring-plane-crossing-on-the-23rd-november-2025
When taking pictures of the planets, it’s best to wait until the planet is high up in the sky where the air is usually a lot steadier and even then it’s a bit hit and miss as the sky can look perfect but still the planet wobbles and jumps around because of aerosols high up in the atmosphere.
If you’re patient you may get a few minutes of steady sky to capture images, it really is a waiting game but well and truly worth it :-D
I also captured four of Saturn’s satellite moons by over exposure the planet with the largest moon Titan to the bottom and forming a triangle, the moons Dione, Rhea and Tethys to the right of the rings.
My images were taken with a 10inch LX200 Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and ZWO ASI120 Mc planetary camera with 3xbarlow attached. AVI files were captured with 3000 frames that were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.
Please note: With the wide field image below of Saturn and its moons I replaced the overexposed image of Saturn with the correct exposed image taken just before this image was captured.
Saturn’s opposition for 2026 is in a couple of weeks time on the 4th October so now is the best time to view and capture Saturn while it’s the brightest and closest to our Earth.
How exciting to see Saturn’s beautiful rings back in view because this time last year the rings were nearly edge on and so thin that they nearly disappeared!
This only happens every 13 to 15 years and I was so lucky to capture the event in both September and November 2025. Please see my blog posts below:
Blog post for September 2025 where rings have nearly disappeared:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturn-at-opposition-in-2025-with-its-moons-titan-and-rhea
Blog post where Saturn’s rings were at there thinnest:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturns-rare-ring-plane-crossing-on-the-23rd-november-2025
When taking pictures of the planets, it’s best to wait until the planet is high up in the sky where the air is usually a lot steadier and even then it’s a bit hit and miss as the sky can look perfect but still the planet wobbles and jumps around because of aerosols high up in the atmosphere.
If you’re patient you may get a few minutes of steady sky to capture images, it really is a waiting game but well and truly worth it :-D
I also captured four of Saturn’s satellite moons by over exposure the planet with the largest moon Titan to the bottom and forming a triangle, the moons Dione, Rhea and Tethys to the right of the rings.
My images were taken with a 10inch LX200 Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and ZWO ASI120 Mc planetary camera with 3xbarlow attached. AVI files were captured with 3000 frames that were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.
Please note: With the wide field image below of Saturn and its moons I replaced the overexposed image of Saturn with the correct exposed image taken just before this image was captured.
~ Saturn with its moons Titan, Dione, Rhea & Tethys ~
(At 10.54pm (AEST) 14th September 2026)
(At 10.54pm (AEST) 14th September 2026)
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