Transit of Saturn from outer planets
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A transit of Saturn across the Sun as seen from an outer planet (Uranus or Neptune) takes place when the planet Saturn passes directly between the Sun and the outer planet, obscuring a small part of the Sun's disc for an observer on the outer planet. During a transit, Saturn can be seen from the outer planet as a small black disc moving across the face of the Sun.
Saturn's satellites could theoretically be seen at the same time, but their angular diameter would be less than 1", and they would therefore be very hard to see.
The Saturn-Uranus synodic period is 45.36023 years (16567.82 days). The Saturn-Neptune synodic period is 35.86989 years (13101.47 days).
The mutual inclination of the orbits of Saturn and Uranus is 1.95°. The mutual inclination of the orbits of Saturn and Neptune is 0.97°.
Transits of Saturn from Uranus are quite rare. The angular diameter of the Sun from Uranus is about 1.7', however Saturn can be as far as a couple of degrees from the Sun at inferior conjunction. Coupled with a very long synodic period of more than 45 years, it would take a long time to produce such a transit.
Transits of Saturn from Neptune must also be quite rare, again due to small angular diameter and long synodic period. Nevertheless, one takes place on May 30 2061.
Note: the images linked to in the following table do NOT take into account the finite speed of light. Light takes approximately 8 minutes to travel 1 AU, and the delay can amount to one or more hours for distances of tens of astronomical units between the various outer planets.
The images correspond to a hypothetical observer at the center of Uranus or Neptune. Since these planets have a considerable radius, there will be some effect of parallax between the planet's center and its north or south pole. However, the effect would be very small and would amount to less than one percent of the angular diameter of the Sun.
Near misses are indicated with strikeout.
Source: [1] (http://www.starrynight.com)
| Transits of Saturn from Uranus | |
|---|---|
| April 8 2669 | [2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Saturn-U-26690408.jpg) |
![[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Saturn-U-26690408.jpg){kind=link}
| Transits of Saturn from Neptune | |
|---|---|
| May 30 2061 | [3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Saturn-Np-20610530.jpg) |
![[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Saturn-Np-20610530.jpg){kind=link}
See also
Template:Transit visibility table
External links
- JPL Solar System Simulator (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/)