Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: Sometimes Saturn disappears. It doesn't really go away, of course -- it just disappears from our view when Earth's Moon moves in front. Such a Saturn ian eclipse, more formally called an occultation , was visible in early 2025 along a small swath of Earth -- from Greenland through central Europe and into northern Africa . The featured image is a digital fusion of three images, the first of just Saturn before it disappeared, and then two more of the Moon with different exposure lengths. The images were taken from Sardinia , Italy , after sunset. The bright dot near Saturn is not a moon of Saturn , but rather the star 85 Aquarii , which is further behind Saturn than Saturn is behind the Moon. The next time the Moon moves in front of Saturn, as visible from some place on Earth , will be in 2031. Tomorrow's picture: small but mighty
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