If you were to scale down Saturn and its ring system so that Saturn was the size of Earth, the outer edge of the A ring would stretch about 6,400 km (4,000 mi) from Earth’s surface. The rings would look quite different in the sky depending on the latitude at which you were standing, the time of year, and the time of day. If you were standing on Earth’s equator, you would have to look directly overhead to see the rings. The rings would only appear as a thin line running across the sky from east to west, because the rings would orbit nearly over Earth’s equator. If you were standing at a higher latitude in the northern hemisphere, you would have to look to the south to see Earth’s rings. The rings would form an arching band across much of the sky. If you were standing all the way at the North Pole, you would not be able to see any rings at all, because they would be below your southern horizon. If you were standing about halfway between the equator and the North Pole, the rings would appear different depending on what time of year you looked. In the summer, Earth’s tilt would orient the rings toward the Sun and you would see sunlight reflected directly off the top side of the rings. But during the winter, the Sun would be shining more directly on Earth’s southern hemisphere, and thus the rings would be lit up from the bottom side! In that case, you would see some light pass through the rings, but they wouldn’t appear as brilliantly lit as during summer. You would also have to be sure to look at the rings at a time of day when the Sun was shining on them. Noontime would be best. Earlier or later in the day, the east or west edges of the rings might be blocked by Earth’s shadow falling on them. If you looked at midnight, the rings would be mostly blacked out from being in Earth’s shadow. Many Voyager pictures show Saturn’s shadow on the rings. So, if Earth had rings like Saturn’s, they would appear exceptionally beautiful on the summer solstice from midlatitudes at noon.