The fat gibbous Moon creeps up on the planet Saturn tonight. Saturn is to the lower left of the Moon as they climb into good view, before midnight, and looks like a bright star.

If you remove its beautiful rings, Saturn itself looks a bit bland – like a slightly flattened beachball colored in bands of yellow, tan, and white. The bands are formed by clouds. Saturn is a big ball of gas that spins rapidly, so the clouds are stretched into bands that completely encircle the planet.

If you look at those bands closely, though, Saturn takes on a more artistic appearance, like the works of a great Impressionist. Waves form at the boundaries between bands, spinning off whorls and eddies that are as big as continents.

Giant storms sometimes bubble up from deep within the planet. These blobs are quickly sheared apart by Saturn’s rotation. As they spread, they form waves and gyres that resemble cream swirling into a cup of hot coffee.

Saturn’s poles are among the most amazing views of all. The cloud bands around them form hexagons – the result of standing waves that constantly slosh around the planet. And there are vortexes at the poles themselves, with splashes of white clouds floating atop them – brilliant accents that crown Saturn’s beauty.

Again, look for the bright planet Saturn close to the Moon tonight, beginning before midnight.

Tomorrow: an arrow-wielding centaur transforms into a teapot.

Script by Damond Benningfield