Early risers will get a rare opportunity to see something extraordinary in the early hours of July 18 — the dark shadow of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, sweeping across the planet's cloud tops.
Once every 15 years, Saturn's tilted orbit brings its iconic rings — and Titan's orbital path — into an edge-on alignment with Earth. This event, known as a ring-plane crossing, heralds the onset of a season of dramatic 'shadow transits', as Titan's vast umbral silhouette periodically sweeps across the gas giant's surface.
