The upper chart shows the path of Saturn across the background stars over the course of the year. Stars to magnitude +8.5 are shown. The white circles represent the planet on the first day of the month and are scaled according to apparent magnitude. The faint paths before the first circle and after the last circle represent the planet's positions in December of last year and January of next. In general, the planet moves from right to left except when it's in retrograde and proceding in the opposite direction.
The lower chart shows how the appearance of Saturn changes over the year. Below each image is listed the date, the apparent magnitude, the apparent diameter of the disk (in arc-seconds), the geocentric distance (in au) and the opening angle of the rings. Note that the tilt of Saturn's rings varies subtly throughout the year.
The ringed planet spends the entirety of 2019 in the crowded star fields of the constellation Sagittarius, criss-crossing a section of sky between the 'Teaspoon' and 'Teapot' asterisms. Its southerly declination makes it a more difficult observing target for observers in northern temperate latitudes than for those in equatorial and southern regions on Earth. At conjunction at the beginning of the year, Saturn is lost in the glare of the Sun in January but eventually distances itself from our star and can be seen from February onwards. It reaches its brightest magnitude at opposition in July. An evening sky object for the second half of the year, Saturn is lost to view by the end of 2019 as it approaches its next conjunction early next year. Saturn undergoes a series of lunar occultations this year, mostly visible from the southern hemisphere, beginning in January (although the first one isn't visible as the planet is too close to the Sun) and ending in November.
| 01 January | maximum ring opening: 25.5° |
| 02 January | conjunction |
| 05 January | lunar occultation: 0.9° south of the Moon |
| 13 January | planetary conjunction: 1.7° north of Mercury |
| 02 February | lunar occultation: 0.6° south of the Moon |
| 18 February | planetary conjunction: 1.1° south of Venus |
| 01 March | lunar occultation: 0.3° south of the Moon |
| 29 March | lunar occultation: 0.1° north of the Moon |
| 10 April | west quadrature |
| 25 April | lunar occultation: 0.4° north of the Moon |
| 27 April | maximum declination north |
| 28 April | minimum ring opening: 23.5° |
| 30 April | stationary point: direct → retrograde |
| 22 May | lunar occultation: 0.5° north of the Moon |
| 19 June | lunar occultation: 0.4° north of the Moon |
| 09 July | opposition: magnitude +0.1, apparent diameter 18.5 arc-seconds |
| 16 July | lunar occultation: 0.2° north of the Moon |
| 12 August | lunar occultation: 0.03° north of the Moon |
| 08 September | lunar occultation: 0.04° north of the Moon |
| 18 September | stationary point: retrograde → direct |
| 28 September | maximum declination south |
| 05 October | lunar occultation: 0.3° north of the Moon |
| 07 October | east quadrature |
| 02 November | lunar occultation: 0.6° north of the Moon |
| 29 November | lunar occultation: 0.9° north of the Moon |
| 11 December | planetary conjunction: 1.8° north of Venus |
| 27 December | 1.2° north of the Moon |
