This is the best time all year to see the ringed magnificence of Saturn

On Sunday night, August 1, the incredible beauty that is Saturn will be the closest it gets to Earth all year.

At that time it will be about 1,336,700,000 kilometers from Earth. That's still a long way — space is big, hence its name — but the planet will look incredible and gorgeous even through a small telescope.

We call this event opposition, because Saturn is opposite the Sun in the sky. Another way to think of it is that Earth is directly between Saturn and the Sun, so our two planets are ...