Tonight (10th Feb 2007) Saturn reaches opposition.
The point at which the Sun, Earth and Saturn are in a straight line - and therefore Daturn is at it's closest point to us this year.
The main advantage for astronomers is that it will appear at it's biggest size in the eyepiece of a trelescope.
As with all planets, best time to observe it is when it is at it's highest point in the sky (at a steeper angle you are looking through less of our atmosphere - so the telscopic images are clearer and steadier) Highest point is when the planet is due South - and at opposition, this occurs at midnight (GMT)
Too see it at it's best, it's not imperative to see Saturn TONIGHT though - Saturn comes to, and fades from, opposition quite slowly - so you still get very good views for a good few weeks either side of opposition.
I've already had some nice views o Saturn over the past few weeks (especially the other night, when it was less than 10 arcminutes from the Moon, and I could see both Saturn and a portion of the Moon in the same telescope field of view) - Looks like I'm gonna be clouded out tonight, but still looking forward to some more nice views of Saturn over the coming weeks.
One of the guys over at my own little forum was imaging Saturn the other night - very nice pic...
ASTRO-CHAT - :: View topic - Saturn