The Moon and Saturn

In "The Sky in February" (2/02), Joe Rao writes about Saturn's occultation: "Saturn becomes obscured by the Moon's dark portion and reappears about an hour later from behind its bright limb. Depending on one's location, the Moon takes between 90 and 120 seconds to completely cover, and then uncover, the ball and rings of the planet." Should that be "minutes" rather than "seconds"? Or am I completely confused?

Alice Gomez
Albuquerque, New Mexico

JOE RAO REPLIES: When the Moon crosses in front of Saturn, it does indeed take just 90 to 120 seconds for it to completely cover both the planet's globe and its famous rings. Saturn is then out of view behind the Moon for about an hour, until it begins to reemerge. The planet and rings are fully uncovered again within two minutes.

This process is best observed with a telescope. To the unaided eye, the planet resembles a bright star, but when it begins to go behind the Moon it may seem to fade out gradually rather than wink out abruptly, as would the pinpoint of a star.

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