Four Moons to Cross Saturn’s Face Tuesday

By News on the Net —— Bio and Archives February 24, 2009

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

In a rare cosmic event, four of Saturn's many moons will cross the ringed planet's face Tuesday morning, each casting a shadow on the gas giant's surface.

The event is not one that casual skywatchers will be able to see. But it will be photographable by seasoned amateur skywatchers through mid-sized backyard telescopes high-end camera setups, and the Hubble Space Telescope will photograph the event. Meanwhile, for the rest of us: Comet Lulin will be very near Saturn from Monday Night through Tuesday night, making the barely-visible fuzzball comet relatively easy to find.

Rare transit

"Titan, Mimas, Dione and Enceladus will pass directly in front of Saturn and we'll see their silhouettes crossing Saturn's cloudtops -- all four at the same time." said Keith Noll of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute.

More..