RING IT IN
STUNNING video footage of Saturn during a lunar occultation has been shared on social media.
Popular science account @WonderofScience took to Twitter to share the 34-second video on Monday.
2
2
In the clip, Saturn can be seen rising from behind the moon at a close distance.
"Incredible footage of Saturn rising from behind the Moon during a lunar occultation," the tweet read.
A lunar occultation is a celestial event that describes when the Moon appears to move in front of another object in the sky.
The object can be either a star, a planet, or an asteroid – in this case, it refers to Saturn.
Read more on Saturn
An astronomer named Jan Koet captured the video footage using a group-based telescope.
Koet writes in a YouTube post that the video was taken on May 22, 2007.
"Video was made by a18cm Astro Physics 180EDT, aMeade 5000 3x Barlow and aToUcam2," the scientist explained.
He added that some after-processing was done "to push the brightness of the faint Saturn to match that of the Moon."
Most read in News Tech
The astronomer noted that the video was sped up for convenience.
"Amazing what one can do with a home Telescope that anyone can use from home!" one Twitter user commented under the post.
"It is so awesome, it doesn't look real!" a second person echoed.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, behind Jupiter.
The planet has 82 moons, however, only 53 of these moons are confirmed and named.
Read More On The Sun
These moons range massively in size – Titan is bigger than the planet Mercury, while others are as small as a sports arena.
Like Jupiter, Saturn is a giant gas planet and is composed of similar chemical elements including hydrogen, helium, and methane.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS