Starwatch: Saturn makes its closest approach to Earth of the year
by Stuart Clark from on (#62GSH)
Earth undertakes the ringed planet every 378 days, passing directly between it and the sun
The beautiful ringed planet Saturn has arrived at its closest approach to Earth of the year.
On 14 August, Saturn is 8.86 astronomical units from Earth. An astronomical unit is the radius of Earth's orbit around the sun. Equal to roughly 150m km, that places Saturn 1.3bn km away currently. Travelling at an average speed of 9.69km a second, Saturn takes roughly 29.5 years to complete a single orbit of the sun. Moving almost three times as quickly, Earth undertakes Saturn every 378 days, passing directly between it and the sun.
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