Observers' Forum: Saturn and the 'opposition effect'

Abstract

Saturn came to opposition on 2008 February 24 at 09:48 UT. It is well known that at this time there is a very noticeable increase in brightness of the rings. They 'glow' brilliantly compared to the disk, to which at other times they are comparable in intensity. The phenomenon has been reported as being noticeable for a couple of days around opposition, but seems to be most striking in the few hours around actual minimum phase angle.