Just one night before the moon is in its full phase, Saturn will sneak directly below and to the left of the moon, shining bright yellowish-white. It will illuminate just like a star, except shining much brighter. If a stargazer is able to watch for any large portion of the night, it will appear as though the moon is chasing Saturn across the night sky.

To be precise, Saturn will be approximately 5.5 degrees to the lower left of the moon. You can measure this by closing your fist and holding your arm straight out in front of you. Peering over your knuckles at this angle should give you 10 degrees of the sky.

By the time dawn approaches on Wednesday morning, the moon will have shot below Saturn in a planetary game of leap frog. If you happen to live in the southern portion of Australia, or islands in that longitude, the moon will actually occult Saturn on Wednesday evening, hiding it from view.

If you have been aching to get a better view of Saturn’s rings, the viewing Tuesday evening will be a good time, as the rings have now turned at an angle optimal for viewing from earth. If you want to get a good view, though, you will need a telescope magnifying at least 30-power to see them. During the past few years, the rings have tilted about 21.5 degrees on edge.

Even as the ringed planet is nestled under the much closer moon, it will still be visible and distinguishable from the moon and the light the moon gives off. In fact, on the brightness scale, Saturn weighs in at a zero magnitude.

The brightness scale, also known as Apparent Magnitude, is a when an object’s (planetary) brightness is measured by a logarithm. Planets, stars, asteroids, and other massive objects are typically measured in a standardized and specific wavelength, by using optical or near-infrared wavelengths. To put this in perspective, the sun has an apparent magnitude of -27, the full moon -13 and Venus (the brightest planet) measures -5. The International Space Station comes in at -6. Considering that planets only shine due to light bouncing off of their surface towards us, a zero on the scale is pretty impressive for Saturn.

At approximately 9 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Saturn will come into one of the best positions to be viewed from earth, just below the moon.