Final answer:
The angular diameter of Saturn as seen from Earth at opposition can be determined using the small-angle formula. Saturn's distance from Earth at that time is about 1.4 billion kilometers, and using its known equatorial diameter, the formula gives its angular resolution as seen from Earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the angular diameter of Saturn as seen from Earth at opposition, we can use the small-angle formula, which relates the angular size of an object in the sky to its physical size and distance from the observer. The formula is expressed as θ = 206265 * (d / D), where θ is the angular diameter in arcseconds, d is the diameter of the object, and D is the distance to the object.
At opposition, Saturn is approximately 1.4 × 10⁹ kilometers away from Earth, or about 9 Astronomical Units (AU). Given Saturn's equatorial diameter of about 120,536 km, we can plug these values into the small-angle formula to find its angular diameter from Earth.
The calculation would be θ = 206265 * (120536 / 1.4 × 10⁹), which yields an angular resolution for Saturn as seen from Earth.