In 2010, Saturn lies just south of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. That makes it reasonably well placed for telescopic viewing through July or early August.

Saturn's spectacular rings are beginning to open up from their nearly edge-on aspect last year, but they're still very thin. They start 2010 tilted nearly 5° with respect to Earth, then narrow to less than a 2° tilt in May and June. After that — as Saturn starts to disappear into the evening twilight in July — the rings start to widen again in a hurry, and they'll put on a magnificent display in 2011.

In addition to the rings, Saturn's moons are always fun to watch. But aside from 8th-magnitude Titan, which is visible even in binoculars, all of Saturn's moons are relatively faint, and they're easy to confuse with stars. So you really need a good chart or computer tool to tell you which moons are where at any given moment. For a graphic overview of the most prominent moons' motions, download one of our printable single-page PDFs. Click below for the desired month.

January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010

Or try our Javascript utility to see how the moons are positioned at any moment.

For more information, see our Observing Guide to Saturn.