Saturn’s small moon Dione transits the face of the ringed planet at 8:43 p.m. EDT this evening, an orbital alignment best observed from the eastern half of the United States, astronomy.com reported. Observers will find Saturn positioned high in the eastern and southeastern sky as the brightest point of light in that region, visible even with a bright Moon nearby.
Telescopes Help Observers Spot Saturn's Rings and Moons
Visual observers will need a telescope to spot Saturn’s rings and moons, with larger apertures working best to cut through the heavy lunar glare of a nearby full moon. Prior to the transit’s start, the 10th-magnitude Dione approaches the planet’s northeastern limb. Observers can also track the equally bright Tethys east of the rings, Rhea to the west, and the brighter Titan shining at magnitude 8.5 far west of the planet all evening.
Capturing the Dione Transit on Video
The transit itself proves difficult to watch visually because Dione’s tiny disk easily blends into Saturn’s bright cloud tops, making the moon appear to vanish. High-speed video equipment offers a better method for capturing the event, particularly for spotting the moon’s shadow as it crosses Saturn’s far northern polar region. That shadow appears around 9:40 p.m. EDT and vanishes roughly half an hour later before Dione reaches the northwestern limb.
Dione Pops Back into View After 10:40 P.M. EDT
Just before 10:40 p.m. EDT, visual observers can watch Dione pop back into view just off the planet’s western limb as it pulls away from the disk.
Worth a look