A 20-year-old astrophotographer from Shoreline, Washington, has captured a rare solar eclipse on Saturn. The event, known as a shadow transit, showed Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, casting a small dark shadow on the planet’s surface. This type of eclipse will not be visible again until 2038.
Adam Smadi has been practicing astrophotography for about two years. He said that he planned the shot days in advance using the Stellarium software, which helped him find the exact time and location from which the eclipse would be visible.
“I saw that it was going to be visible during the perfect time from Shoreline,” Smadi told Wonders in Space. “I knew I had to try.”
He began setting up his 9.25 inch telescope around 1 a.m. to let the equipment cool down and match the outdoor temperature and reduce air currents inside the telescope, helping create sharper images. By 3:30 a.m., Saturn was high enough in the sky to begin imaging. Smadi used a ZWO ASI662MC camera and an infrared filter (685 nm) that helped reveal more detail in Saturn’s atmosphere.
“I stacked thousands of images using video captures,” he told Wonders in Space. “And there’s the result.”
Shadow transits like this are rare. They only happen when Saturn’s rings are edge-on from Earth’s point of view, allowing moon shadows to cross the planet’s face. These viewing windows last only a few months and return about every 15 years.
Smadi’s stunning photos have been widely shared across astronomy forums and social media platforms, drawing praise from viewers around the world. On Instagram, his followers and viewers flooded the comments with admiration and excitement. “Award winning,” one user wrote. “Fantastic, glad you were able to catch it!” said another.
While it may look like a small dot on a giant planet, it reflects hours of preparation and a precise understanding of planetary motion.
Follow Adam Smadi on Instagram to see more of his stunning work.
