Titan Shadow Transit

Titan Shadow Transit

Image Credit &
Copyright:

Volodymyr Andrienko

Explanation:

Every 15 years or so,
Saturn’s rings are tilted edge-on to our line of sight.

As the bright, beautiful ring system grows narrower and fainter it
becomes increasingly difficult to see for denizens of
planet Earth.

But it does provide the opportunity to watch transits of Saturn’s moons
and their dark shadows across the ringed gas giant’s still bright disk.

Of course Saturn’s largest
moon Titan
is the easiest to spot in transit.

In this telescopic snapshot from July 18,
Titan itself is at the upper
left, casting a round dark shadow on Saturn’s banded
cloudtops above the narrow rings.

In fact
Titan’s transit season
is in full swing now with shadow transits
every 16 days corresponding to the moon’s orbital period.

Its final shadow transit will be on October 6, though Titan’s pale disk
will continue to cross in front of
Saturn as seen from telescopes on planet Earth every 16 days
through January 25, 2026.