William Atkins
Thursday, 19 February 2009 19:32
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
The four-moon event begins on Tuesday morning February 24, 2009 at 10:54 Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), or 2:54 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) along the Pacific coast of North America, such as in Los Angeles, California.
In Sydney, Australia, you’ll see it the evening of February 24th, at 9:54 p.m. local time.
Look southwest into the night sky. The planet Saturn will be
“shining like a golden first-magnitude star in the constellation Leo.” [NASA]
Check-out the
sky map of Saturn at this NASA website.
The first transit of Saturn begins when the shadow of the large Saturnian moon
Titan moves across Saturn as seen by its image on the clouds above Saturn.
Then, about forty minutes later, Titan itself will be seen moving over the clouds of Saturn.
Titan frequently passes in front of the planet Saturn but its transits are often hidden from Earth views by the rings of Saturn.
However, on February 24, 2009, the Saturnian rings are nearly edge-on to Earth, which will reveal the movement of Titan across the disk of Saturn.
A small backyard telescope is needed to see Titan.
Page three discusses the three smaller moons soon to transit the planet Saturn.
