Feb. 20, 2002, Saturn Photo Gallery
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Summary: Onlookers across North America saw the Moon glide in front of Saturn and its mysterious rings on Feb. 20, 2002. Some observers even saw the event in broad daylight!

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  Photographer, Location, Local Date Larger images, videos Comments

Robert Sandy, Roanoke County, Virginia, USA #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 R. Sandy: "All images were 1/8 second exposures with a 3 1/2-inch Questar and a digital camera." The first four images show Saturn disappearing behind the quarter Moon's dark limb.

Becky Ramotowski, San Antonio, Texas, USA #1 B. Ramotowski: "I temporarily abandoned my mother-in-law's birthday party, and rushed outside to a well-lit parking lot to capture this shot. Not bad considering we were only 5 miles from downtown San Antonio!" Photo details: Nikon Cool Pix 775 digital camera, hand-held to a Celestron 80 mm refractor; 13mm Televue eyepiece.

Ginger Mayfield, Divide, CO, USA #1 The occultation began and ended before sunset in Colorado, but that didn't stop Ginger Mayfield from observing the event. Using a TV 85 and a Olympus C-2100 digital camera, she captured this image of Saturn reappearing from behind the Moon.

Tom J. Martinez, Louisburg, Kansas, USA #1 T. Martinez: "These pictures were taken with my Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera attached to Powell Observatory's 30-inch telescope in Louisburg, Kansas."


Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkansas, USA #1, #2 Photo #1 shows Saturn disappearing behind the Moon in broad daylight. "The sky was very bright, but crystal clear," says Sherrod. "The centered concentric rings are digital camera artifacts. This was a very difficult event to photograph; visually the rings were nearly absorbed into the color and brightness of the clear blue sky." Photo details: 0.31m Schmidt Cassegrain @ f/46; Olympus C-3000 digital camera; 1/10th sec. exposures @ ISO 100

Carl Archuleta, Denver, CO, USA #1, #2 C. Archuleta captured this twilight image of Saturn reappearing from behind the Moon. He used a Nikon 995 digital camera.

More images (click on the name of the photographer to view the image):
Chuck Shaw (Houston, TX, USA); Patrick Brahaney (downtown Dallas, TX, USA);

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