Saturn and satellites seen by the Hubble space telescope - Saturn rings edge - on...

Saturn and satellites seen by the Hubble space telescope - Saturn rings edge - on with satellites - Saturn observed by the Hubble space telescope on February 24, 2009 when the Earth is in the same plane as the rings, seen by the slice. This phenomene occurs every 15 years. On the top image, the largest satellite, Titan, projects its shadow on the planet and three satellites are visible on the left: Mimas and its shadow are discernable on Saturn's left blade, on the left, above the rings, Dione is clearly visible, and on the left, the Enceladus satellite. The image in the center shows the satellites Enceladus and Dione that cast their shadow on the west (left) side of Saturn, Titan in the upper right, and Mimas on the eastern edge of Saturn. In the image below, Dione and his shadow pass to the center of Saturn, above Enceladus and its shadow. Titan is on Saturn's eastern blade, Mimas is right above the rings. This sequence of images captures the parade of several of Saturn's moons transiting the face of the gas giant planet. This is a rare event because the rings are tilted edge on to Earth every 15 years. The top frame captures the giant moon Titan and its shadow near Saturn's northern polar hood. Tiny Mimas and its shadow have just entered the left limb of Saturn, slightly above the rings. To the far left off the disk, Dione, the brightest of the icy moons in this view - and Enceladus, fainter and farther to the left - can easily be seen just above the rings. In the center frame, Dione and Enceladus can be seen near the western limb of Saturn, while Titan's shadow is off the limb, and Mimas is on the right most limb, its shadow also now off the limb. In the bottom frame, Dione and its shadow are centered above Enceladus and its shadow. Titan is now off the right limb. This picture sequence was taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on February 24, 2009, when Saturn was at a distance of roughly 775 million m