Saturnicentric latitude
of the Earth and Sun
This diagram shows the apparent Saturn-centered latitude of the Sun and
Earth during the ring plane crossing periods. Times of crossing events
(as observed at Earth) and opposition are indicated. The shaded regions
correspond to the times when the unlit side of the rings will be visible
from Earth.
Note that the Sun is shown by a double-line, indicating the size of the
solar disk as seen from Saturn. Because of its size, it takes roughly
four days for the solar disk to cross the ring plane.
A
previous version
of this diagram has been found to be slightly inaccurate.
Last updated Jan-17-97
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