Explanation:
Changes in Saturn’s tilt over the past six years.
Today, the Earth and Saturn’s rings are almost in the same plane. To amateur astronomers on Earth, Saturn’s rings appear to have “disappeared.” Recently, observation conditions for Saturn have been very unfavorable because Saturn itself is very close to the Sun, setting almost at the same time as the Sun, making it difficult to achieve good photographic results. Nevertheless, this composite image clearly reflects the changes in the tilt of Saturn’s rings over these six years from 2004 to 2009 (from bottom-right to top-left), including the recently captured image where the rings disappear. Although Saturn’s south pole is clearly visible in this sequence (especially in the bottom-right corner), the south pole will be hidden from our view in the coming years, and Saturn’s north pole will become increasingly prominent.
NASA Website:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090904.html
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