On August 20, 2024, for all of us around the globe, the moon was up by about an hour after sunset and hung near Saturn in the sky. It occulted – or passed in front of – Saturn for observers from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Europe at 3 UTC on August 21. Enjoy this gallery from our talented community of photographers. Also, notice the moon’s brightness. It looks so bright because it was just one day past Monday’s supermoon! For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide or watch a 1-minute video about the moon and Saturn. And on the topic of Saturn … did you know its rings are disappearing?
Images of the occultation
View at EarthSky Community photos. | Egidio Vergani of Italy shared this image of the moon and Saturn and wrote: “Saturn goes behind the moon. The moment in which the ringed planet hides behind our satellite to reappear after about an hour. The wonder of an occultation taken from Milan on August 21, 2024, at 4.30 am.” Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | Egidio Vergani also captured this image, at 5:30 am, and wrote: “Exciting occultation of Saturn by the moon.” Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | Makrem Larnaout from Tunisia shared this image and wrote: “The moon is presented as a 12-panel mosaic, each panel composed of 10% of 2K frames. Saturn was meticulously processed using 8 x 5K video captures, with 35% of the frames stacked and derotated to match the exact time, with the last capture just before ingress. The final composition is a single 15ms exposure taken during the event.” Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | Roberto Ortu from Cabras, Italy, captured this image and wrote: “On the morning of August 21, 2024, at 5:31 local time, the occultation of Saturn by the moon occurred. This is an image of me taken from a video in which the lunar rim and the planet were almost “in contact” just before the beginning of the phenomenon. You can see the great difference in brightness and apparent size of the 2 celestial bodies, with Saturn being many times larger but also vastly more distant than our satellite. The event lasted about an hour.” Thank you!
Images of the moon and Saturn
View at EarthSky Community photos. | Felton Davis also photographed the moon and Saturn from New York City, but from that location, the occultation wasn’t visible. Felton wrote: “Cellphone photo through an 8-inch Orion reflector, cropped but not touched up. Saturn remained 1 degree from the moon, there was no occultation.” Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | Steven Sweet from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, captured Saturn above the moon’s Mare Crisium. Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | Chuck Reinhart from Vincennes, Indiana, wrote: “I increased the exposure in one photo to highlight Saturn and then decreased the exposure in the same photo to show the details of the moon.” Thank you!View at EarthSky Community photos. | John Van Allen from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, captured this image and wrote: “This was the best of about 20 tries by hand.” Thank you!
Bottom line: Did you miss the moon and Saturn close together on August 20, 2024? Here’s a gallery full of images of the event.
Cristina Ortiz
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About the Author:
Cristina Ortiz – based in Granada, Spain – has been an EarthSky editor since 2021. “Since I was a kid,” she says, “I could feel that passion for science and communication.” Cristina has a master’s degree in translation and interpreting, specializing in science and technology. She has served as a translator, interpreter and proofreader in both science and technology for various media organizations, including Netflix, and for museums and other companies.
