Titan Shadow Transits on Saturn in 2009

[iceman (Mike)]

There’s already been three transits of Titan across Saturn in 2009, and maybe, like me, you’ve been clouded out for most of them. All is not lost, however.

There’s still one more transit of Titan itself in 2009 (a grazing transit, with its shadow, on March 12 at 22:15 AEDST (11:15 UT)), followed by a number of shadow transit events.

With these shadow transits, Titan itself will not cross the disc of Saturn but its shadow will. The shadow transits are actually easier to observe due to the contrast of the dark shadow against the yellowish disc of Saturn.

I've written an article detailing the Titan shadow transit events for the rest of 2009. Times will be listed in Universal Time (UT/GMT) and Australian Eastern Time (AEDST/AEST). If you live in other parts of the world, calculate your time by adding or subtracting your timezone offset to the Universal Time.

Please read the article here:

Titan Shadow Transits on Saturn in 2009

Thanks.

[Quark (Trevor)]

Most informative write up Mike,

The shadow of Titan sure does have greater contrast with the planet than does Titan itself. Looking forward to these future events.

Regards
Quark

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by iceman

There’s still one more transit of Titan itself in 2009 (a grazing transit, with its shadow, on March 12 at 22:15 AEDST (11:15 UT)), followed by a number of shadow transit events.

Would someone kindly post an image of the location of Titan's shadow on the Mar 12 transit. Stellarium doesn't show the moons' shadows (unless there is an option to turn on that I haven't found yet.) I want to know if it is worth trying to show people. I won't try if the shadow is too close to the pole. Thanks

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Eric

There's a screenshot in this article:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-523-0-0-1-0.html

It's fairly close to the pole.

[erick (Eric)]

Sorry Mike, I should have thought to look there. Yes, bit to close to be sure of good viewing. I'll wait for one of the others.