Space Time
Planet Oppositions 2026–2027
An opposition is a planet's best night of the year: closest, brightest, and up from sunset to sunrise. Here's what's coming, computed from real ephemerides.
Coming up
| Planet | Opposition | Peak mag | Disc | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn | October 5, 2026 | 0.2 | 19.7″ | 8.43 AU | details → |
| Jupiter | February 11, 2027 | -2.6 | 45.2″ | 4.36 AU | details → |
| Mars | February 20, 2027 | -1.2 | 13.8″ | 0.68 AU | details → |
Why oppositions matter
Earth laps the outer planets like a runner on an inside track. The moment we pass one is its opposition: the planet sits directly opposite the Sun in our sky, fully lit, nearest for the year, and visible all night. For Mars the difference is dramatic, since its disc more than doubles between apparitions. For Jupiter and Saturn it marks the weeks when telescopes show the most.
Watch any of them in 3D
Space Time is a free in-browser planetarium. Jump the clock to any opposition and watch it happen, or graph the whole apparition with the built-in ephemeris generator and export the data as CSV. Open the app. Also: the August 2026 total solar eclipse and the Moon phase calendar.