Click to enlarge the image
On 24 February 2009, a rare quadruple Saturn moon transit was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope for the first time. The biggest Saturn moon is the Titan which is the most significant one in the photo. It’s even larger than the innermost planet – Mercury. The other 3 moons are Dione, Mimas and Enceladus. Scroll to the bottom for the picture which has the moons labeled.
This kind of transit is quite a rare event that only happens every 14 to 15 years when the Saturn’s comparatively paper-thin ring is edge-on to us. The Saturn satellites are at the same plane of the ring. Thus, when the ring is edge-on to us, more satellites are visible to us at once.
As the ring is almost edge-on to us, the luminosity of the planet is reduced. It’s quite apparent as the Saturn was distinct and easy to recognise but now it takes a little effort to pinpoint its position on the night sky.
Which is which? Click to enlarge the image
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