Titan's shadow crosses Saturn as the planet offers up its best views of 2025

[Buster's Uncle]

Titan's shadow crosses Saturn as the planet offers up its best views of 2025 this weekend
Anthony Wood
Space
Fri, September 19, 2025 at 5:17 PM EDT



A simulation showing the location of Titan's shadow during the upcoming transit early on Sept. 20. | Credit: NASA SVS


The vast shadow of Saturn's largest moon Titan will fall upon the upper extreme of the ringed gas giant in the early hours of Sept. 20, just one night before the planet shines at opposition in Earth's sky.

Once every 15 years, the orbital mechanics of the solar system brings the orbital path of Titan into an edge-on alignment with Earth, opening a brief window during which the moon's colossal shadow can be spotted periodically sweeping across the surface of the gas giant.

The next Titan shadow transit will begin at 1:09 a.m. EDT (0509 GMT) on Sept. 20, at which time the vast umbral silhouette will be visible on the upper left of the gas giant's disk, with the moon itself positioned just below, according to Sky & Telescope. Titan's dark footprint will take a little over two hours to traverse left to right across Saturn's cloud tops, before finally fading from view at 3:34 a.m. EDT (0734 GMT).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/titans-shadow-crosses-saturn-planet-211701684.html

[Geo]

Missed the 'spot'.