The planet Saturn He will be the protagonist of a series of spectacular astronomical events this summer, unfortunately not visible from Italy. The July 2ndIndeed, From 2 in the morning to dawnthe second largest natural satellite in the entire Solar System, Titanwill project his Shadow on the planet’s album with rings. Is the first of 7 subsequent appointments which will also take place the July 18th, 3 and 19 August, 4 and 20 September, and 6 Octobernone unfortunately coinciding with when it’s night in our country. The event is favored by Terra-Saturn geometric configuration; In this period, in fact, the planet is practically seen along its equatorshowing the almost cut rings and thus allowing us to see the shadow of his biggest satellite. It is a fairly rare event that will happen again between 15 years.
The reasons for the celestial phenomenon
The largest moon in Saturn, Titanis the second largest natural satellite in the entire Solar System, shining with one magnitude equal to 8 which makes it visible from dark skies with the simple use of binoculars. Titan orbit Saturn every 15 days and 22 hours, which implies that from the earth we can see it more or less in the same position compared to Saturn every 16 days. But if this is the case then How come we don’t see Titan’s shadow every 16 days projected on Saturn?
Reason lies in theinclination of the rotation axis of Saturn with respect to the orbital plane. This inclination is similar to the terrestrial one, equal to approximately 26.7 degrees. Saturn therefore also experiences the seasonsbut with longer scale times since it takes 29.4 years to complete an orbit around the sun. When a Saturnian pole aims to the maximum towards the sun, Saturn experiences a solsticegiving rise to the hemisphere containing that pole to the summer. Between the two solstices, the apparent inclination corner of Saturn gradually decreases until the planet It actually appears to the side of the sun thus giving rise to a Equinox Saturn. Given that from Saturn’s perspective, the earth is very close to the sun, its apparent angle of inclination seen from our planet means that Saturn appears with rings seen cutting.
Near the equinox of Saturn, the rings therefore appear very thin and disappear from the sight For a short period, when the cross between the rings and our line of view takes place. This is what happened in March 2025 and that will happen again in 2032. Since the Saturnian moons, including Titan, orbit more or less fairly On the planet, it is only during the equinoxes that our vision line is such that it is possible to see the shadow of the moons projected on Saturn. This happens not only for Titan, but also for other moons like Mimas and Reawhose shadows, however, are much smaller and difficult to observe.
Titan’s shadow on Saturn has already been sighted three times in the last few months, but 7 more occasions are coming. The first, the July 2ndthe 7 following 7 July 18th, 3 and 19 August, 4 and 20 September, and 6 October. Unfortunately in none of these cases the transit takes place when in Italy it is night.
What equipment is necessary for observation
The observers of the American continent are the favorites From this celestial configuration which will gradually decrease in the shadow transit time on the Saturnian disc until they last for a single minute in October. Saturn in itself is visible to the naked eye, even in city skies, but it appears as an object almost pointing to the human eye. A binoculars is not yet enough to provide the right magnifications, but A telescope must necessarily be used To have the opportunity to observe the planet’s disc with sufficient detail to see the shadow of Titan. It will therefore be necessary to equip yourself with a telescope of at least 10 cm in diameter with an eye capable of producing Enlargements up to 200x. Such enlargement produces satisfactory results only in the event that you are under a sky having good condition seeingthat is, with a stable atmosphere that does not degrade the astronomical image.
