Eclipses of Saturn

       Eclipses are when a planet gets in between the earth and another o
bject. The light of the other object, usually either the sun or the moon, 
is blocked by the planet. In a lunar eclipse, the moon is being blocked by 
another planet. In a solar eclipse, the sun is being blocked. A special 
kind of eclipse, a penumbral eclipse, is......

       Some of the more recent lunar eclipses involving the planet Saturn:

7-17-81 Partial Lunar Eclipse
A partial lunar eclipse is when the moon is partially blocked by Saturn.

7-6-82 Total Lunar Eclipse
A total lunar eclipse is when the moon is completely blocked by Saturn. 
This was observed on this date.

11-18-94 Penumbral Eclipse
A penumbral eclipse occurred.

9-27-96 Total Eclipse
The total eclipse occurred at about 8pm PST.

3-24-97 Partial Eclipse
The moon was at a mid-eclipse at about 8:40pm PST and at about 9:00pm PST. 
This was observed on the same day that the Hale-Bopp comet was in the 
western sky.

      The 120 second exposure with 0.8 arcsecond seeing was taken in the 890
nm methane band using a narrow filter (5.0 nm FWHM). The exposure was begun 
at about 4:06 Universal Time (UT) on November 22 (9:06 p.m. MST, November 
21). A central mask about 25 arcseconds wide is used to reduce the 
scattered light from the disk of Saturn. North is to the top, and East is 
to the left. The Sun is on the opposite side of the rings from the Earth, 
and so the rings are a 'negative' image of their usual appearance. The C 
Ring and Cassini's Division are bright while the A and B Rings are dark. 
This image clearly shows the small Saturnian moons Epimetheus (top of the 
East ansa, moving East), Prometheus (bottom of the East ansa, moving West), 
and Janus (bottom of the West ansa, moving West). This image confirms the 
suggestion from HST observations that Prometheus is about 30 minutes behind
the position predicted on the basis of the pre-1995 ephemeris. Quoted from 
NASA/JPL.