Ok, I like the Earth too. It's got a better atmosphere for breathing and living. But out of this world and in our night sky it's hard to beat Saturn for planet watching.

Jupiter's is a close second place in my book, but I so look forward to training my telescope or webcam through the telescope at the ringed wonder of our solar system. Now, it's true other planets like Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus have ring systems, but nothing beats the ring system surrounding Saturn, the second largest planet in our local families of planets.

Saturn is literally available in prime time in our Butler night skies this month. It's just about at its closest approach to the Earth right now, something astronomers call opposition. That's when the Earth in its one year orbit around the sun and Saturn in its 29-year circuit around our home star line up in such a way that the Earth lies roughly in a line between the sun and Saturn. This happens about once a year. Actually the exact opposition date was this past March 21, but Saturn is still plenty close — at least as far Saturn goes at just more than 795 million miles away.

Another benefit of the astronomical geometry of the sun, Earth and Saturn is the ringed wonder occupies our celestial dome all night long, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.

Saturn's certainly not the brightest starlike object in our sky, but it's easy to find. All you have to do is look in the east as soon as it's dark enough after evening twilight.

As you can see in the diagram, Saturn is shining below the tail of the constellation Leo the Lion. Make sure you don't confuse Saturn with the star Arcturus, which is also rising in the east in the early evening. Arcturus is brighter and rising to the left of Saturn. It also has an orange tint to it.

I absolutely love showing people Saturn through my telescopes at my star watch parties. I just stand back and wait for the oohs and ahs, especially from the kids.Now, in all humility, I have some pretty big scopes at my star parties, but the great thing about Saturn is you don't need that big of a scope to enjoy it. Saturn and its ring system can easily be seen through even the smallest of scopes. In fact, if you can't resolve Saturn's rings through your scope, then there's something wrong with it.The ring system has a diameter more than 150,000 miles, which is more than half the distance between the Earth and our moon. Even though the ring system is that wide, it's only about 50 feet thick, and every 14 years, the system of rings is on edge from our view on Earth. That last happened just this past autumn, when Saturn's rings disappeared. Unfortunately, the rings are still nearly on edge, but at least now you can see them a little bit. However, in a few years, we'll get a much better view when more of the north side of the rings are turned our way.Years ago, people thought Saturn's ring system was just one solid sheet, but it's anything but that. It's made up of billions of mainly tiny bits of ice or rocks covered with ice. Some of the debris is the size of a minivan, but most of it is very small. Because of the ice, the rings are very reflective to sunlight, and that's why they show up so well. In fact, when the plane of Saturn's ring system is turned more our way than it is right now, most of the light we see when we glance at Saturn with the naked eye is the sunshine reflecting off the extensive ring system.How and why the debris got there is up for debate.One camp says the debris has been there since Saturn coalesced into a planet more than 4 billion years ago. The other says a passing small moon or comet got too close to Saturn as little as 100 million years ago and was ripped to bits and shreds but Saturn's strong tidal forces ripped the heck out of it and then some. Because of the shepherding gravitational effect of several of Saturn's sixty moons, the debris got spread out into the lovely ring system you can enjoy with that telescope you might have gotten for Christmas.Saturn is a lot like Jupiter and the rest of the planets in the outer solar system. It's a giant ball of cold hydrogen and helium with no solid surface, and astronomers believe its deep rocky core is about 10 times as massive as our Earth. Despite its 75,000-mile diameter, it rotates on its axis about every 10 hours, and because of that, Saturn possesses a strong magnetic field and even has aurora displays.At last count, Saturn has 60 moons with the largest one, Titan, being larger than Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.Titan has a heavy methane atmosphere and even has methane lakes. The Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn for years and has collected all kinds of data and photographs, and in one of its latest pictures, you can see sunlight reflecting on one of the giant methane lakes.As fascinating as Titan is, a small moon, Enceladus, has really grabbed some astronomical headlines as the Cassini has photographed water plumes shooting from cracks in the moon's surface. It's believed tidal forces from the much more massive Saturn are strong enough to heat up Enceladus's interior enough for liquid water. Wherever there's liquid water there's always at least a small chance of some kind of life. Stayed tuned. There's bound to be more about this possibility in years to come.Just as it is with the ring system, just about any telescope will show you at least some of Saturn's moons, which resemble tiny little stars swarming Saturn, with Titan being decidedly brighter than the rest.Enjoy Saturn through your telescope, and if I can, let me make some suggestions to make your viewing experience even better:• Make sure your telescope and all the eyepieces sit outside for at least a half-hour so the optics can acclimate to the outside temperature.• Wait to view Saturn after it has had a chance to rise high enough in the sky so you don't have to look through as much of our Earth's blurring atmosphere — after about 9:30 or 10 p.m. should do the trick.• Take long, continuous looks through your telescope at Saturn and its moons. As your eye gets used to the light level, you'll see more detail, and hopefully, you'll catch seconds — or maybe even minutes — when our atmosphere becomes more transparent for viewing. High level winds are always changing, and that can really affect how well you see Saturn or anything else through your telescope.Have a splendid Saturn experience!Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.

At left, shining below the constellation Leo the Lion, Saturn can easily be seen in the prime time sky this month. The planet is in opposition with Earth, which means it is at its closest point this year because Earth is between Saturn and the sun, offering views of its elaborate ring system, above.