Saturn: Titan transits don't miss em!

[kinetic]

Hi,

From another forum I am on:
here are some details posted by Chris Go of upcoming
Titan transits:

Chris writes:

> It had been cloudy for the past weeks. Condition today wasn't
> great
> because transparency was poor. I was able to have a break late in
> the session before clouds and haze started to roll in again.
>
> I was finally able to capture the Titan Transit. This type of
> transit is so rare that the last time this happened was in
> 1995. After March 12, the next one will be on 2025!!
>
> The last 4 transits of this season will be on 1/23, 2/8, 2/24 and
> 3/12. The March 12 transit is the rarest as it will feature both
> Titan and it's shadow!! All the Titan transit this season will
> only
> be seen in the Austral/Asia region!

Some pics of Chris' transit captures:

http://saturn.cstoneind.com:80/

[Quark]

Thanks Steve,
Something to definitely lookout for.

Cheers
Trevor

[cookie8]

Quickly looked up Astronomy 2009 yearbook. None of these Titan transits was mentioned. I guess none of them visiable from Australia thats why.sniff sniff :(
:mad2:

[kinetic]

Not sure cookie,

Eclipses may be another story though.
Obviously it's just a matter of sifting through a good list
and seeing if Saturn is up at the event hour in UT.
Make sure you take into account daylight saving though , eh Trev? ;)

I found a table on the NZ AS site here:
scroll down for the Titan table:

http://www.rasnz.org.nz/SolarSys/RheaTitanEclipses.htm

Alternatively, S&T have always had Saturn's moons in the
monthly viewing section, you can easily calculate timings from that.

Steve

[firstlight]

Starry Night shows the transits visible from Acacia Ridge... worht having a go I suppose.

[iceman]

I'm pretty sure they're visible from Australia. I'll be trying!

[erick]

Anyone kind enough to work out the details from Australian Capital cities and post -- Pleeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeee? :help:

[Coen]

In UT.
Visit: http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/eventi/satsat_eng.htm (http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/eventi/satsat_eng.htm)

I tried to cut and paste but alas the formating went to pieces.

[erick]

Thanks, but too much information for my brain :eyepop:

OK, I've had a go with Stellarium. Doesn't seem to show the Titan shadow on Saturn. (Cannot remember if it shows shadows on Jupiter??)

Here's what I have got from Melbourne.

[Coen]

<shrug>
Could try WinJUPOS

Yes lots of information but reasonably straight forward (although a little bit of time) to cull it down and filter. Save the file as a text file then open in your favourite editor that has search facilities. To grab Titan transits search for " 6." must have the leading space to cut down on the "6." something minutes entries.

Then add your time zone to shift the UT, then voila is the number in the sanity zone for viewing? Is Saturn even up at that time etc.

[erick]

Thanks, Coen, for the step by step - it wasn't a particularly friendly set of data - "VI -> Titan" - be nice if it said "6 = Titan". And working out what was meant to be columns.....

But I can see how to use it now, thanks. I'll confirm the info I obtained from Stellarium. :)

[Glenn Dawes]

Hi Cookie and all,

As they say confession is good for the soul.

The story of the Titan transits is that Ken, Peter and me expected them to occur but within our publishing deadline for Astronomy 2009 we couldn't find a source for predictions or even how observable Titan transits are. (There is no shortage of mutual event info) Perhaps we should have mentioned this at least as a possibility, perhaps on page 23, instead of saying nothing.

I hope our loyal readers can forgive us on this one.

I agree with Mike, I see no reason why some wouldn't be visible from Australia.

Regards

Glenn

[kinetic]

Hi,

Here are a few rough predictions done in SNBY for a few
events coming up.

They seem to agree with Eric's results too.

My times are in central daylight time for Adelaide (UT+10.5h)

SNBY also shows shadows.

There are many events involving Mimas almost on a daily (nightly?) basis.

Not sure how easy it would be to see Mimas and it's shadow.
Titan should be easy though.

Also, not sure if a simulation like this of Saturn would take in to
account the light travel time from Saturn.
From vague memory...my Mars stuff from Mars '01,'03,05 didn't need
that taken in to account to simulate what I saw.

regards,
Steve B.

[erick]

I remember going around this question sometime in the last year for Stellarium and my recollection (flakey at best!) is that the simulation is as seen from Earth.

Barry????

Thanks
Eric :)

[cookie8]

Thanks Steve. Sydney is 1/2 hr ahead. Will definitely give the shadow transit a go on the 24Jan around 1:30 am. Don't forget Titan's shadow will transit before the transit of Titan itself due to the sunlit from an angle.
Vincent

[kinetic]

Hi cookie,

I didn't think the shadow rated a mention because this is what I
got for that night.....24Jan

I think it would be a struggle to see that from here...that is
if any of this is accurate...(SNBY that is)

Steve

[cookie8]

Bugger!! Yes Steve you are right. According the this link:

In UT.
Visit: http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/eventi/satsat_eng.htm (http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/eventi/satsat_eng.htm)

No shadow transit visible on 24Jan but visible in Australia on 24Feb, 12Mar, 28Mar & 13Apr.:thumbsup:

[erick]

Can anyone show me a SN simulaton showing shadow location on these dates. I didn't see shadows in the Stellarium simulation.

[kinetic]

A reminder of a rare Titan eclipse tonight.

1st Contact Jan 15 17:23 UT ( jan 16 03:53am Adelaide/ 04:23am Eastern daylight time)

source:
http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/eventi/satsat_eng.htm

attached: my estimate courtesy SNBY

Steve

[cookie8]

Thanks Steve. It is now raining in Sydney.
One thing I don't understand:
From the link http://saturn.cstoneind.com:80/ (http://saturn.cstoneind.com/)you posted in your first post in this thread Christopher Go imaged Titan's transit(he did say transit ,not shadow transit) but how come it appears as a black dot in front of Saturn. Shouldn't Titan be also illuminated by sunlight?:screwy:

[Dennis]

Hi Guys

This is how it is shown in SkyTools 3 Professional.

Site/Date/Time details are in the information bar at top of the screen capture.

Cheers

Dennis

[kinetic]

The simple answer Cookie would be that it is Titan.
Without 'back-checking the exact timings of his 'transits' I'd say
to capture both satellite (dim) and planet (very bright), he's got
a compromise where the planet detail is perfect but at the expense of
Titan being underexposed and appearing dark.

Either that...or it was a SHADOW transit event.

Steve