All the time that it's visible in 2011, Saturn lies within 7° of the famous, tight double star Gamma Virginis (Porrima). That makes it reasonably well placed for telescopic viewing through July or early August.

Saturn's spectacular rings are finally opening up for real, after being nearly edge-on to Earth for the past few years. They start 2011 tilted 10° with respect to Earth, then narrow to a 7° tilt in June. After that — as Saturn starts to disappear into the evening twilight in July — the rings start to widen again.

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 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011

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

For more information, see our Observing Guide to Saturn.