A rare opportunity was taken by Hubble astronomers who photographed a quadruple moon transit of Saturn during a period when the planet's rings are tilted edge on to Earth:
"Because the orbits of Saturn's major satellites are in the ring plane, too, this alignment gives astronomersa rare opportunity to capture a truly spectacular parade of celestial bodies crossing the faceof Saturn. Leading the parade is Saturn's giant moon Titan – larger than the planet Mercury. Thefrigid moon's thick nitrogen atmosphere is tinted orange with the smoggy byproducts ofsunlight interacting with methane and nitrogen. Several of the much smaller icy moons thatare closer in to the planet line up along the upper edge of the rings. Hubble's exquisitesharpness also reveals Saturn's banded cloud structure."
Watch a time-lapse clip with narration, AFTER THE JUMP…
